From Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net Fri Feb 1 06:20:50 2002 From: Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net (Johannes Schneider) Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 14:20:50 +0100 Subject: [R-G] Re: Munich plans protest ban References: <020801c1a9bc$95f39940$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> <006c01c1aa44$ca342e80$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> <021b01c1aa8d$a0d663c0$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> Message-ID: <005601c1ab23$467eba80$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> > > The two demonstrations on Friday and Saturday have been just banned by the > > city of Munich. An appeal against the ban has already been filed before a > > Munich court. The ban has been supported by two courts last night. At the moment there is some confusion whether an appeal before the constitutional court is filed. Meanwhile Bavarian state radio is quoting police sources saying militant demonstrators are on their way to Munich. There is already a strong police presence on the central squares (Marienplatz, Karlsplatz), but the situation seems to be still calm. Webcams: http://www.stachuscam.de/ (Karlsplatz) http://www.mariencam.de/ (Marienplatz) The BBC website is carrying this report: Friday, 1 February, 2002, 12:24 GMT Protesters appeal against Munich ban Demonstrators are to appeal to Germany's highest court to overturn a ban on protests during a high-level defence conference in Munich this weekend. The anti-Nato protesters say that the city authorities' decision to ban demonstrations is unconstitutional. But the city fears that the arrival of thousands of anti-globalisation activists could result in the kind of violence which accompanied many of last year's international summits. About 400 defence experts from almost all the Nato countries will attend the conference, which will discuss the fight against terrorism and Nato's planned expansion. Full text at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1795000/1795497.stm Johannes, Munich From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Fri Feb 1 13:00:50 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 12:00:50 -0800 Subject: [R-G] VP CHENEY & US INDUSTRIES WAR PROFITEERING. HAD ENOUGH YET? Message-ID: Another primary reason as to why we need Public Campaign Financing & Instant Runoff Voting, Proportional Representation, & Choice Voting... -- --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 00:17:37 From: "William Douglas, Jr." To: GlobalGreens at yahoogroups.com, RWTO at yahoogroups.com U.S. companies, including VP Cheney's Halliburton, make cool millions off of supporting so called "terrorist" nations, while making money by selling US Govt. weapons to bomb people in those same nations. When will the world get sick enough of this to take action. If you would like an Activist Kit, reply with "Send Kit," and it will be freely sent. Please pass it on to all you know, and others as well. If you wonder why there aren't more reports on the following, realize that General Electric mentioned below as one of the conspirator companies that makes money off both sanctions and wars OWN MUCH OF THE U.S. MEDIA INDUSTRY. Cheney Made Millions Off Oil Deals with Hussein San Francisco Bay Guardian November 13, 2000 by Martin A. Lee Here's a whopper of a story you may have missed amid the cacophony of campaign ads and stump speeches in the run- up to the elections. During former defense secretary Richard Cheney's five-year tenure as chief executive of Halliburton, Inc., his oil services firm raked in big bucks from dubious commercial dealings with Iraq. Cheney left Halliburton with a $34 million retirement package last July when he became the GOP's vice-presidential candidate. Of course, U.S. firms aren't generally supposed to do business with Saddam Hussein. But thanks to legal loopholes large enough to steer an oil tanker through, Halliburton profited big-time from deals with the Iraqi dictatorship. Conducted discreetly through several Halliburton subsidiaries in Europe, these greasy transactions helped Saddam Hussein retain his grip on power while lining the pockets of Cheney and company. According to the Financial Times of London, between September 1998 and last winter, Cheney, as CEO of Halliburton, oversaw $23.8 million of business contracts for the sale of oil-industry equipment and services to Iraq through two of its subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll-Dresser Pump, which helped rebuild Iraq's war-damaged petroleum-production infrastructure. The combined value of these contracts exceeded those of any other U.S. company doing business with Baghdad. Halliburton was among more than a dozen American firms that supplied Iraq's petroleum industry with spare parts and retooled its oil rigs when U.N. sanctions were eased in 1998. Cheney's company utilized subsidiaries in France, Italy, Germany, and Austria so as not to draw undue attention to controversial business arrangements that might embarrass Washington and jeopardize lucrative ties to Iraq, which will pump $24 billion of petrol under the U.N.-administered oil-for-food program this year. Assisted by Halliburton, Hussein's government will earn another $1 billion by illegally exporting oil through black-market channels. With Cheney at the helm since 1995, Halliburton quickly grew into America's number-one oil-services company, the fifth-largest military contractor, and the biggest nonunion employer in the nation. Although Cheney claimed that the U.S. government "had absolutely nothing to do" with his firm's meteoric financial success, State Department documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times indicate that U.S. officials helped Halliburton secure major contracts in Asia and Africa. Halliburton now does business in 130 countries and employs more than 100,000 workers worldwide. Its 1999 income was a cool $15 billion. In addition to Iraq, Halliburton counts among its business partners several brutal dictatorships that have committed egregious human rights abuses, including the hated military regime in Burma (Myanmar). EarthRights, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights watchdog, condemned Halliburton for two energy-pipeline projects in Burma that led to the forced relocation of villages, rape, murder, indentured labor, and other crimes against humanity. A full report (this is a 45 page pdf file - there is also a brief summary) on the Burma connection - "Halliburton's Destructive Engagement," can be accessed on EarthRights' Web site Human rights activists have also criticized Cheney's company for its questionable role in Algeria, Angola, Bosnia, Croatia, Haiti, Rwanda, Somalia, Indonesia, and other volatile trouble spots. In Russia, Halliburton's partner, Tyumen Oil, has been accused of committing massive fraud to gain control of a Siberian oil field. And in oil-rich Nigeria, Halliburton worked with Shell and Chevron, which were implicated in gross human rights violations and environmental calamities in that country. Indeed, Cheney's firm increased its involvement in the Niger Delta after the military government executed several ecology activists and crushed popular protests against the oil industry. Halliburton also had business dealings in Iran and Libya, which remain on the State Department's list of terrorist states. Brown and Root, a Halliburton subsidiary, was fined $3.8 million for reexporting U.S. goods to Libya in violation of U.S. sanctions. But in terms of sheer hypocrisy, Halliburton's relationship with Saddam Hussein is hard to top. What's more, Cheney lied about his company's activities in Iraq when journalists fleetingly raised the issue during the campaign. Questioned by Sam Donaldson on ABC's This Week program in August, Cheney bluntly asserted that Halliburton had no dealings with the Iraqi regime while he was on board. Donaldson: I'm told, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Halliburton, through subsidiaries, was actually trying to do business in Iraq? Cheney: No. No. I had a firm policy that I wouldn't do anything in Iraq even arrangements that were supposedly legal. And that was it! ABC News and the other U.S. networks dropped the issue like a hot potato. As damning information about Halliburton surfaced in the European press, American reporters stuck to old routines and took their cues on how to cover the campaign from the two main political parties, both of which had very little to say about official U.S. support for abusive corporate policies at home and abroad. But why, in this instance, didn't the Democrats stomp and scream about Cheney's Iraq connection? The Gore campaign undoubtedly knew of Halliburton's smarmy business dealings from the get-go. Gore and Lieberman could have made hay about how the wannabe GOP veep had been in cahoots with Saddam. Such explosive revelations may well have swayed voters and boosted Gore's chances in what was shaping up to be a close electoral contest. The Democratic standard-bearers dropped the ball in part because Halliburton's conduct was generally in accordance with the foreign policy of the Clinton administration. Cheney is certainly not the only Washington mover and shaker to have been affiliated with a company trading in Iraq. Former CIA Director John Deutsch, who served in a Democratic administration, is a member of the board of directors of Schlumberger, the second-largest U.S. oil-services company, which also does business through subsidiaries in Iraq. Despite occasional rhetorical skirmishes, a bipartisan foreign-policy consensus prevails on Capital Hill, where the commitment to human rights, with a few notable exceptions, is about as deep as an oil slick. Truth be told, trading with the enemy is a time-honored American corporate practice or perhaps "malpractice" would be a more appropriate description of big-business ties to repressive regimes. Given that Saddam Hussein, the pariah du jour, has often been compared to Hitler, it's worth pointing out that several blue-chip U.S. firms profited from extensive commercial dealings with Nazi Germany. Shockingly, some American companies =96 including Standard Oil, Ford, ITT, GM, and General Electric secretly kept trading with the Nazi enemy while American soldiers fought and died during World War II. Today General Electric is among the companies that are back in business with Saddam Hussein, even as American jets and battleships attack Iraq on a weekly basis using weapons made by G.E. But the United Nations sanctions committee, dominated by U.S. officials, has routinely blocked medicines and other essential items from being delivered to Iraq through the oil-for-food program, claiming they have a potential military "dual use." These sanctions have taken a terrible toll on ordinary Iraqis, and on children in particular, while the likes of Halliburton and G.E. continue to lubricate their coffers. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Fri Feb 1 13:46:09 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 12:46:09 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Space Plutonium Reactors With Space Weapons As Hidden Agenda Message-ID: Another serious reason for election reforms in the US: --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 13:25:11 From: "Paul" To: GlobalGreens at yahoogroups.com *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE *********** On 2/1/02 at 2:58 PM ricesofhi at aol.com wrote: >One accident which spreads plutonium into the atmosphere would do unimaginable damage to life on earth. These guys must have a death-wish. Varieties of nuclear powered space satelite WEAPONS, is the hidden agenda here, as NASA's funding is now primarily from the War Department: > >< >For the first time in a decade, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will request funding for development of a space nuclear >reactor in the 2003 budget request to be released next week. > >Space nuclear reactor technology has followed a boom-and-bust pattern of development since the 1950s. The U.S. launched one space reactor in 1965, a 500 Watt system that operated for 43 days and which remains in >orbit. The last U.S. space reactor development program, a joint NASA-Defense Department effort known as the SP-100, was terminated ten years ago following the expenditure of nearly half a billion dollars. > >(The Soviet Union around 30 reactors between 1967 and 1988. The U.S. has launched some two dozen spacecraft utilizing plutonium-powered electrical generators -- which are not reactors -- that produce a low >level of electricity, for missions such as the Cassini probe to Saturn in 1995.) > >NASA is proposing the new reactor initiative in order to support future space exploration programs, an informed official said. He noted uncertainty about the viability of the program in the current budgetary >environment. He also expressed concern about possible attempts to involve the Defense Department in the program, fearing such a move might make it more vulnerable to political opposition. > >The use of space nuclear reactors is dictated whenever moderate levels of electrical power (tens of kilowatts or more) are required in space over an extended period of time. The availability of a space nuclear reactor could enable a variety of ambitious space exploration programs such as a multi-decade mission beyond our solar system. > >By the same token, space reactors could also be used to power space weapons and other military systems in orbit, attracting the opposition of some arms control advocates and environmentalists. > >In an attempt to square this circle, the Federation of American Scientists and Soviet colleagues in 1988 proposed a ban on the operation of nuclear reactors in Earth orbit that would nevertheless permit their >use for space exploration. > >See "Nuclear Power in Space," Scientific American, June 1991, for background on the checkered history of space reactors and discussion of the FAS proposal. > >For some reason there has recently been a small surge of policy interest in space nuclear power, independent of the new NASA initiative. > >"Thermionics Quo Vadis?" is the curious title of a new National Research Council report on the status of thermionics, which is an energy conversion technology used in some space reactor designs. The report >provides some general information on space nuclear power. See: > > http://www.nap.edu/books/030908282X/html/ > >The Department of Energy Inspector General reported this month on the administration of DOE's Advanced Radioisotope Power Systems program, which provides plutonium-powered electrical generators for NASA >missions. See: > > http://www.ig.doe.gov/pdf/ig-0540.pdf > >SECRECY NEWS >from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy >Volume 2002, Issue No. 11 >January 31, 2002 >>> > >------------------------ > >Maps, Data CDs, and Free Mapping Tutorial >http://www.mapcruzin.com/ > >==^================================================================ >This email was sent to: webmaster at globalcircle.net > From Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net Fri Feb 1 14:48:07 2002 From: Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net (Johannes Schneider) Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 22:48:07 +0100 Subject: [R-G] Re: Re: Munich plans protest ban References: <020801c1a9bc$95f39940$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> <006c01c1aa44$ca342e80$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> <021b01c1aa8d$a0d663c0$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> <005601c1ab23$467eba80$4a1e050a@fgl.atitech.com> Message-ID: <001501c1ab6a$26fd44a0$049290d4@atitech.com> Here is an update on the situation in Munich: I have just returned from a demonstation of several thousand on the Munich central square. After police started to clear the square and arrest people. At least 200 persons were arrested. Some of them were injured when arrested. Johannes, Munich This is from the BBC website: Friday, 1 February, 2002, 19:04 GMT Munich police clash with protesters The first clashes between police and protesters have occurred in Munich, as the city braces for mass demonstrations against a high-profile security conference. Officers broke up a crowd of several thousand protesters in the centre of the southern German city, which a police spokesman said contravened a city-wide ban on demonstrations. Full text: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1795000/1795497.stm From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 1 17:26:20 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 16:26:20 PST Subject: [R-G] Another World Is Possible Message-ID: <200202020026.g120QKB16041@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 1 17:26:58 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 16:26:58 PST Subject: [R-G] Pipelineistan Message-ID: <200202020026.g120QwB16593@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 1 17:28:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 16:28:14 PST Subject: [R-G] Israeli reserves refuse to oppress Palestinians Message-ID: <200202020028.g120SEB17564@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 1 17:29:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 16:29:14 PST Subject: [R-G] US officials attempt to paper over Bush speech - DAWN Message-ID: <200202020029.g120TEB18250@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 1 17:30:09 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 16:30:09 PST Subject: [R-G] Rebellion grows among Israeli reserve officers - Independent Message-ID: <200202020030.g120U9B19139@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Fri Feb 1 18:03:43 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:03:43 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Another World Is Possible References: <200202020026.g120QKB16041@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> Message-ID: <004a01c1ab85$77bc8c50$33378d18@Indy1> Susan George??? Once on the board of directors of Greenpeace? Believes in reforming capitalism and "democratizing" the WTO??? Furthermore, she is quoted on Swedish Radio for having said: "I was mistaken when I criticized the American bombings of Afghanistan. (...) This was worth doing in order to get rid of the Taliban... I wish to thank George Bush. He has shown that it was possible to reach the terrorists and their supplies." She is a social democratic opportunist (neo-liberal in disguise). Her work is worthy of the recycling bin for her stance on these issues. >From Manuel Baptista Date Tue, 22 Jan 2002 07:00:16 -0500 (EST) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- ________________________________________________ A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E http://www.ainfos.ca/ ________________________________________________ [Susan George's declarations on Swedish radio...are surprising only for their sincerity. It is not news for us that both she and ATTAC simply pretend to be against capitalist globalization and its political and military expression. - ed.] Susan George, vice-president of ATTAC-France , declares on Swedish radio : "I was mistaken when I criticized the American bombings of Afghanistan. (...) This was worth doing in order to get rid of the Taliban... I wish to thank George Bush. He has shown that it was possible to reach the terrorists and their supplies." "Svenska Dagbladet", Stockholm, quoted in "Courrier international" (n? 585, 17-23 janvier 2002). ******** ****** The A-Infos News Service ****** News about and of interest to anarchists ****** COMMANDS: lists at ainfos.ca REPLIES: a-infos-d at ainfos.ca HELP: a-infos-org at ainfos.ca WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/ INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 7:26 PM Subject: [R-G] Another World Is Possible The Nation February 18, 2002 Another World Is Possible by Susan George PARIS -- For a magic moment, the citizens' movement was no longer on the defensive. From Seattle to Genoa, via Washington, Prague, Quebec, Nice and a dozen other destinations, the dispiriting decades of unbridled corporate greed and freewheeling financial markets seemed to be drawing to an ignominious close, smothered under their own sheer awfulness. Or if such a perception was mere wishful thinking and a bit premature, at least neoliberalism was under credible and forceful attack. Negatively labeled "antiglobalization" by the media but known to its thousands of participants and millions of sympathizers as the movement for global justice, the nebula of protest and proposals was coalescing and gaining strength. The corporate and political elites could no longer meet in plush peace and confidential quiet to do their deals, and were obliged to retreat to fortresses whose defenses the demonstrators regularly stormed both physically and ideologically. The winds of history were blowing in a new and refreshing direction. Then came September 11. Like the rest of the world, Europeans were shocked and horrified, especially by the sheer scale of the destruction and the potent symbolism of the targets, but in another and admittedly limited sense, we'd been there before. We'd had bombs in our metros, terrorist attacks on our railways and exploding cars in our streets, not to mention centuries of wars, invasions and occupations. As the initial trauma wore off, we also tried to analyze what precisely lay behind the attacks and to ask political as well as moral questions. While everyone agreed that nothing could justify the terrorist attacks on the United States, some also recalled another September 11 when the American-sponsored coup d'?tat in Chile brought down the democratically elected Allende government, ushering in a fascist regime that murdered and "disappeared" thousands. American support for the contras in Nicaragua; the training of Latin American torturers in North America; the attacks against weak and defenseless countries like Panama, Grenada and Sudan; the bombing and blockading of Iraq leaving civilians dead and maimed but Saddam Hussein firmly in place--all these were remembered and discussed, as was the crucial US role in the endlessly destructive Israel-Palestine war. While the prestigious French daily Le Monde headlined "We Are All Americans," others felt that this assertion very much depended on "which" Americans. Yes, without question, if it meant mourning for the victims and their families; no, if it meant unqualified support for the corporate, financial and government elites, and for business as usual. Nor were we surprised when these same elites in Europe, our neoliberal corporate adversaries and their domestics, instantly seized upon the atrocities to advance their cause. By the morning of the 12th they had already sharpened their sticks. Using crude, faulty but sometimes effective logic in an attempt to intimidate and criminalize the citizens' movement, they declared, "You're antiglobalization, therefore you're anti-American, therefore you're on the side of the terrorists." For weeks, the media gleefully and unrelentingly framed their coverage and their questions in that light alone. So we've had to explain incessantly why such arguments are not just wrong but pernicious, and we've refused them the pleasure of painting us into the villain's corner they had reserved for us. We reject as well the "antiglobalization" label and, in order to counter accusations of "anti-Americanism," stress our ties with our American friends in the global justice movement. We've also continued to mobilize, and on that score, it's gratifying to report that September 11 has had relatively little long-term impact. Although virtually unreported in the mainstream press and, alas, with zero effect on the negotiations themselves, the recent WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, brought far more people into the streets than had gathered in Seattle. Decentralized demonstrations were organized in at least thirty countries, including forty locations in France and twenty-five in Germany. The demonstrations in Laeken at the end of the Belgian EU presidency in December brought out tens of thousands, including a large number of trade unionists, with almost no violence (one or two shattered bank windows). On January 19, ATTAC-France (ATTAC is an acronym for the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions to Aid Citizens, whose program now reaches well beyond the push for the so-called Tobin Tax, the proposed small tax on international currency transactions) filled to overflowing the largest rock concert hall in Paris for the kickoff of the upcoming presidential and legislative election season. While we have no intention of becoming a party, we do promise to harass all the candidates unmercifully around our issues. Next month, ATTAC-Hungary will be launched, the fortieth country to join this international movement. The CGIL, Italy's largest and most progressive trade union, recently decided to become a "founding institutional member" of ATTAC-Italy. Kids all over Europe asked their parents to give them the airfare to Porto Alegre for Christmas so they could attend the historic international citizens' gathering there January 31-February 5. We know that for Americans, the backlash of the terrorist attacks has been far more powerful and the aftermath more lingering. With flags flying on every corner, the obligatory rallying around President George W. Bush no matter what he decides, and a kind of suffocating and frequently phony patriotism dominating the debate, it's clear that the pressure is considerable. Allow me still to argue that it's time to pull ourselves together, pull up our socks and pull together--take your pick of metaphors, but also take heart: September 11 is not the end of the world. History may even be handing us a radically new moment, one we did not choose but ours to seize. Our message is more relevant today than it was on the eve of September 11. The emotions the atrocities awakened in all the rich Western countries caused me briefly to entertain the na?ve hope that their leadership might finally recognize the gravity of the situation and provide an appropriate response. I should have known better. Those who hold our futures in their hands are not serious. They see no farther than the noses of their bombers. Frightening though the prospect may seem, citizens must accept the risk of being serious in their place. What does "being serious" mean? For starters, recognizing what our leadership refuses to admit: that terrorist nihilism is one response to poverty, despair and hopelessness. I don't mean to imply that redistribution of resources and aid programs, however well conceived, could have stopped bin Laden and his immediate followers. They care nothing about the poverty of their own compatriots, but they do know that terrorism thrives in the rich soil of exclusion and victimhood. On September 10, half the world was already living, if one can call it that, on less than $2 a day, with a fifth surviving on half of that. Thirty thousand children were already dying needless deaths daily. Inequality is exploding both within and among nations, and perhaps contrary to the poor of the nineteenth century, today's poor know they are poor. The plausible fantasies of Western television constantly remind them of their own failure to capture the material rewards of modernity. The only rational response to global problems is global solutions. "Foreign direct investment," the panacea of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, consists mostly of mergers and acquisitions that result in harmful economic concentration and job losses, and in any case such investment flows to only a dozen or so countries. The UN target of 0.7 percent of the wealthy countries' GNP for development aid is never going to be met, and we should stop pretending that it will be, because this particular pot of money is shrinking by some 5 percent a year. What resources do exist are unaccompanied by control over the local elites, who all too frequently use them for their own ends, a recipe for waste, corruption and inefficiency. What's needed is to ratchet up our efforts to the international level and launch a global Marshall Plan, financed by various international tax instruments (including but not confined to Tobin-type taxes) and made conditional on genuine civil society participation and rigorous auditing. Debt relief ought to be a precondition of a properly functioning world system; otherwise the debtors are competing on the "level playing field" the neoliberals never tire of extolling with lead in their sneakers. The cash is out there. It can be found not only by taxing financial transactions but in tax havens where, as Bush himself has proven, it's possible to identify, target and close down accounts belonging to anyone the United States identifies as a terrorist--so why not the accounts of drug barons and traffickers in women, children, endangered species and armaments? Thanks to these same cozy locations in the Caribbean and other fiscal paradises, taxes on transnational corporations are undermined while taxes on labor and consumption contribute far more than their fair share. "Free trade" as managed by the World Trade Organization and reinvigorated at the recent negotiations in Doha is largely the freedom of the fox in the henhouse. Despite the advance on generic drugs for pandemics like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, the South's needs are shelved and the transnationals continue to run the show according to their own preferred rules. None of the profound changes we call for will, however, happen spontaneously, and our present elites certainly don't want them. Clearly the shock of September was not great enough to force them to change their minds and their behavior. So, American friends, where does all this leave us? First of all, please bring the United States back. We need you, the world needs you. Although people on every continent are joining in this struggle, there are no guarantees we can win. Without a strong US movement, in the bastion of corporate and financial-market-driven globalization, we are in fact likely to fail. I hope not to be misunderstood in saying that September 11 must not lead to an unhealthy inwardness and self-preoccupation but to tough-minded analysis followed by outward-looking action. The adversary hasn't changed since September 11. That adversary is still "Davos" and everything Davos stands for, whether meeting in the mountains or on the banks of the Hudson. Homo davosiensis wants all the resources, all the wealth, all the power and all the freedom to extend his ascendancy across time and space. This means that we too must be world-spanners and history-inventors, right now. As we say in French, l'histoire ne repasse pas les plats--"History doesn't offer second helpings"--so we'd better deal with what's on our plate now, which is world poverty, inequality, exploitation and hopelessness. How? The great Chinese general Sun Tzu said 2,400 years ago, "Do not do what you would most like to do. Do what your adversary would least like you to do." In Porto Alegre, people from all over the world will be trying to determine what the adversary least wants and how to deliver it. In New York, we hope you will be supremely inconveniencing the Davos mob, denying it whatever it may want just now and in future (one thing it does want is for violence to spoil the proceedings and attract exclusive media attention, so watch out for agents provocateurs). Personally, I have not been so hopeful in decades. The mood is changing. People no longer believe that the unjust world order is inevitable. To Margaret Thatcher's TINA--"There is no alternative"--they are replying that there are thousands of them. Now it's up to us all, especially to Americans, to prove that, as we say in ATTAC, "Another world is possible." And urgent. Susan George is associate director of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam and vice president of ATTAC-France. Her most recent book in English is The Lugano Report (Pluto). _______________________________________________ Rad-Green mailing list Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Sat Feb 2 01:08:43 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 03:08:43 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Thu, Feb. 14: Crisis in Argentina Message-ID: Thursday, February 14 The Center for Latin American Studies Brown Bag Seminar Series CRISIS IN ARGENTINA PANEL MEMBERS AND TOPICS: Sarah Brooks Political Science "Political Antecedents and Casualties of Market Fundamentalism" Douglas Southgate Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics "The Wreckage Caused by Long-term Macroeconomic Mismanagement" Abril Trigo Spanish and Portuguese "Cacerolazos y piquetes: New Forms of Struggle against Globalization" 12:30-1:30 p.m. Room 122 Oxley Hall, 1712 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210 Bring lunch; drinks will be provided Carol Robison Assistant Director Center for Latin American Studies The Ohio State University 310 Oxley Hall 1712 Neil Avenue Columbus, OH 43210 Phone: 614-688-4285 Fax: 614-292-4273 E-mail: robison.26 at osu.edu Website: http://www.osu.edu/clas -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Sat Feb 2 10:59:41 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 12:59:41 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Send Your Support to Israeli Conscientious Objectors Message-ID: From: "Sam Bahour" Subject: [Al-Awda-Oh] Send your support to Israeli Conscientious Objectors Reply-To: Al-Awda-Oh at yahoogroups.com Please visit: <http://www.seruv.org/> and register your support to these Israeli combat officers and soldiers who are refusing to serve to maintain the occupation. To leave a msg of support on the site in English visit: <http://www.seruv.org/contactuseng.asp> The following is there statement: * We, reserve combat officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, who were raised upon the principles of Zionism, sacrifice and giving to the people of Israel and to the State of Israel, who have always served in the front lines, and who were the first to carry out any mission, light or heavy, in order to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it. * We, combat officers and soldiers who have served the State of Israel for long weeks every year, in spite of the dear cost to our personal lives, have been on reserve duty all over the Occupied Territories, and were issued commands and directives that had nothing to do with the security of our country, and that had the sole purpose of perpetuating our control over the Palestinian people. We, whose eyes have seen the bloody toll this Occupation exacts from both sides. * We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the Territories, destroy all the values we had absorbed while growing up in this country. * We, who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF's human character and the corruption of the entire Israeli society. * We, who know that the Territories are not Israel, and that all settlements are bound to be evacuated in the end. * We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements. We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people. * We hereby declare that we shall continue serving in the Israel Defense Forces in any mission that serves Israel's defense. The missions of occupation and oppression do not serve this purpose, and we shall take no part in them. Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, is the largest network of grassroots activists dedicated to Palestinian human rights. To subscribe to Al-Awda Ohio, send a blank message to: Al-Awda-Oh-subscribe at yahoogroups.com. To unsubscribe, send a blank message to: Al-Awda-Oh-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com. Our website may be viewed at ====================================================================== Unless indicated otherwise, views expressed are those of their owners and not neccessarily those of Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition. -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Sat Feb 2 11:07:35 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Sat, 02 Feb 2002 10:07:35 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Excerpt from "Pentagon Cannot Account for 25% of It's Budget - $2.3 Trillion" Message-ID: Article Excerpt: (Global Greens) "On September 10th Rumsfeld admitted that 'according to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions'. $2.3 trillion - that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions is an excercise in highly corrupted 'book fixing' & diverted 'Black Budgets', which some brave Pentagon employees are divulging to the US public." From mstainsby at tao.ca Sat Feb 2 16:16:23 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 15:16:23 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Philippines communist rebels warn US troops Message-ID: <024501c1ac3f$a1c146c0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> AFP. 30 January 2002. Philippines communist rebels warn US troops will be met with "force." MANILA -- A communist guerrilla leader warned US troops on the eve of a joint counter-terrorist mission in the southern Philippines that they faced armed attack if they strayed in the rebels' zones of influence. New People's Army (NPA) rebels oppose the deployment of about 600 US troops in joint operations with the Philippines to crush the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap-for-ransom group. But NPA leader Gregorio Rosal said his group will not go out of its way to seek the US troops out and attack them. "It is possible that they would not enter our territories," Rosal said over DZMM radio here in a telephone interview, citing statements by the two governments that the operations would be limited in areas where the Abu Sayyaf operates. However, should the US troops venture into the main southern island of Mindanao, "they may stray into NPA guerrilla zones," Rosal said. "Naturally, if they enter these areas armed, they will be facing an armed force as well." Rosal, head of NPA units operating in provinces south of Manila, said the 12,000-member Maoist guerrilla army "strongly opposes" the US military deployments. "If this military intervention escalates, we will resist it because the Abu Sayyaf is not the real target," he said, repeating previous allegations from the left that the US troops could eventually turn their attention to the NPA. Communist guerrilla leaders have made threats to disrupt the operations, Filipino military spokesman Brigadier General Edilberto Adan said Wednesday. "We shall be prepared to meet them," he warned, while stressing that communist guerrillas are not known to operate in these parts. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Sat Feb 2 17:26:37 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 16:26:37 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Zimbabwe official interviewed by CNN Message-ID: <027301c1ac49$71c1c940$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> http://www.cnn.com/video/world/2002/02/01/chg.zimbabwe.moyo.cnn.med.html Highly, highly recommended by myself. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Sat Feb 2 17:44:36 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 16:44:36 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Fw: George Shire, war veteran, on Zim elections Message-ID: <02b101c1ac4b$f54132e0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> Yet more video interview, this time with an intransigently hostile idiot conducting the interview. Decoding hint: "The world" is primarily London, with the tacit support of DC. > http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1795000/video/_1796456_zim19_shire_vi.ram > > From Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net Sun Feb 3 03:59:06 2002 From: Johannes.Schneider at gmx.net (Johannes Schneider) Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 11:59:06 +0100 Subject: [R-G] Re: Re: Munich plans protest ban Message-ID: <004a01c1aca1$d2a93060$5f9090d4@atitech.com> Here is an update on the events in Munich last night and yesterday: Confrontations between police and demonstrators continued until late night of Saturday. Since Friday 850 persons have been arrested. Last night 484 were arrested close to the Union House. Initially the police insisted to register every single person, who attented a conference on the 'Perspectives of Resistance' inside the Union House. Not surprisingly union bureaucrats wanted to accept this. Only because of the intervention of the revolutionary left (mainly LRCI comrades) the participants insisted on a complete withdrawal of the police forces. Due to this and the intervention of union colleagues from outside and PDS MP Eva Bulling-Schr?ter the police was withdrawn after two hours. Johannes, Munich UK Indymedia has been summing up events (quite correctly) until 9.00 pm local time on Feb. 2nd like this: full text at: http://uk.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=21469&group=webcast Despite the banning of all today's events about 7000 people demonstrated against NATO, militarism and war. In total there have been at least 700 arrests. The repeated attempts by the police to stop meetings and spontaneous demonstrations in the city centre have continously failed. Police have said there were around 6-7000 people demonstrating today. Many people arrested are still being kept outside awaiting space incrowded cells. The Trade Union House was cut off for 2 hours. From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sun Feb 3 10:19:35 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 12:19:35 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Must-See ANTI-WAR Links Message-ID: <002501c1acd6$f43b2460$33378d18@Indy1> ----- Original Message ----- From: "kev hall" To: ; ; ; Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 11:51 PM Subject: no_to_nato Must-See ANTI-WAR Links > ====== + ====== > CRUCIAL ANTI-WAR LINKS > > In peace and prayer, > > + Kev + > ====== + ====== > Pentagon Can't Account for > $2.3-Trillion -- That's "Trillion" - (Jan. 30, 2002) > http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,325985-412,00.shtml > == + == > $48-Billion Defense Boost Not Enough--Pentagon > http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-020102defbud.story > == + == > Bush: BIG BIG Rise in Military Budget for Next 5 Years - James Dao, NYT > http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/02/politics/02PENT.html?todaysheadlines > == + == > Pentagon Pork Bonanza (scroll down some) - by Will Evans & A.C. Thompson > http://www.sfbg.com/36/17/news_war.html > == + == > Missile Defense Costs Increasing Evermore > http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20020201/ts/missile_defense_1.html > == + == > CIA-MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-FINANCIAL-ACADEMIC COMPLEX > The Strange Career of Frank Carlucci > - by Francis Schor > http://www.counterpunch.org/schorcarlucci.html > == + == > NATO is key to homeland defense--Air Force Chief > http://www.af.mil/news/Feb2002/n20020201_0173.shtml > == + == > USN Shot Down TWA 800 - Someone has finally talked! by Reed Irvine > http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26266 > == + == > Arrival of the American Garrison State > - by Paul Fallavollita > http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/fallavollita2.html > == + == > Bytes as the new bullets > (1s and 0s part of new U.S. arsenal) > http://www.msnbc.com/news/698374.asp?pne=msntv > == + == > Israeli Army Chief Assails Resisters > (Balking Israeli Soldiers Assailed by Army Chief) > http://www.iht.com/articles/46844.htm > == + == > Protesting Israeli Reservists Get More Support - (Split widens over Israeli > reservists) > http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1795000/1795362.st m > == + == > Draft Dodging Crackdown--Israel Jails 600 Reservists to Halt Rebellion > http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=02/01/31/9626064 > == + == > Army Rebellion Grows Among Israeli Reserve Officers > http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=117594 > == + == > Some Israeli Soldiers Won't Serve In West Bank, Gaza Strip - NYTimes > http://tampatrib.com/nationworldnews/MGAM7U817XC.html > == + == > I Feel a Draft, Again > - by Paul Hein > http://www.strike-the-root.com/hein9.html > == + == > The Con of Conscription > - by George F. Smith > http://www.strike-the-root.com/smith6.html > == + == > "Combat Vet Fighting Mad Over Censored Windows" - headline used in today's > Tampa Tribune (Associated Press) version of this story. See this from > yesterday's St. Petersburg Times: MacDill lowers boom on protest > http://www.sptimes.com/2002/02/01/TampaBay/MacDill_lowers_boom_o.shtml > == + == > Prisoners, Spanish and American > - by T.L. Knapp > http://www.rationalreview.com/archive/tlknapp/tlknapp020102.html > === + ==== > Support Antiwar.com at http://antiwar.com and the Global Network Against > Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space http://www.space4peace.org. > > STOP STAR WARS - KEEP SPACE FOR PEACE > == + == > See these URGENT space links on U.S. military plans for world domination: > (1) U.S. Space Command's LONG RANGE PLAN: > http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace/LRP/cover.htm > (2) http://www.af.mil/vision > (3) http://www.dtic.mil/jv2020 > (4) http://www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace > (5) Report of the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space > Management and Organization > http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/space20010111.html > == + == > Please help the Plowshares, Catholic Worker and Gandhian movements and > similar peace and justice, faith and spirit groups. > > "In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, > the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom > war is always pernicious even when successful." ---- Leo Tolstoy > ================= + =============== > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. > > Unsubscribe by sending an email to with the following command in the BODY of your message: unsubscribe no_to_nato > From soilride at hotmail.com Sun Feb 3 10:53:05 2002 From: soilride at hotmail.com (soil ride) Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2002 17:53:05 +0000 Subject: [R-G] WEF Photos and USMLO Statement Message-ID: Some photos of the WEF Days of Action: http://www.usmlo.org/archive/2002-01/020202nyc2.htm INTERNATIONAL DAYS OF ACTION AGAINST THE WEF ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE! WE WILL CREATE IT! ? Statement of USMLO, January 31, 2002 ? The U.S. Marxist-Leninist Organization congratulates all those demonstrating in New York, across the U.S. and worldwide against the World Economic Forum and the imperialist globalization it represents. We congratulate all the organizations, affinity groups and individuals who mobilized and organized to insure the success of the many events taking place from January 26 to February 4 and wish everyone further success in your important work. Through the many actions organized ? counter-summits and teach-ins by youth and unions, direct actions, demonstrations, convergence meetings and much more ? it is clear that the people are refusing to accept the dictate of the U.S. imperialists that there is no alternative. Standing firm in defense of their rights, the people are themselves forging alternatives that serve their interests. The wide scope of activities and united efforts by workers, women, youth, social and political activists of all kinds have put to rest the shameless effort of the monopoly media to proclaim the movement ?dead? in the ashes of September 11. It is in the face of the vicious McCarthyite reaction of the ruling circles, their brutal violence against demonstrators and their efforts to criminalize the protests even before they begin, that people across the country and worldwide are standing up to say Another World Is Possible! We Will Create It! No matter what picture the imperialists and their media try to paint, this forward march of the movement cannot be denied. We salute this victory and pledge our continued efforts to insuring many more. Defying the claims of the imperialists that everyone stands behind their aggression worldwide, Americans from all walks of life and with a wide variety of views are taking their stand together with all those fighting worldwide. The movement is taking up for solution the building of the international unity of the peoples, as can be seen in actions in New York as well as the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Americans are taking their place shoulder to shoulder with the peoples by stepping up the struggle against U.S. imperialism and demanding that it be held accountable for its crimes worldwide. People are determined to change the role of the U.S. in the world, beginning by righting the wrongs of its crimes against the peoples. At meetings and demonstrations, activists are tackling the question of putting the interests of the world?s people first. There is a growing viewpoint: ?The resources of the U.S. belong to the world, to all of us.? This is serving to smash the chauvinism of the U.S. ruling circles, who proclaim the world belongs to them to plunder and destroy. This struggle is bringing to the fore the fight for demands that serve to right the wrongs and put the world?s people first: No U.S. Troops Abroad! No to Use of Force! Cancel the Debts! Pay Reparations Now! http://www.usmlo.org/archive/2002-01/020131statement.htm Joshua Minchen In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but organization. -Lenin,1904 _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sun Feb 3 12:06:36 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 14:06:36 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Picture this: A Scenario for the New World Order Message-ID: <004801c1ace5$e70928f0$33378d18@Indy1> Forced vaccinations coming to Canada: MP Speaks Out Against Bill C-42PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY Picture this: You recieve a letter in the mail to report for a mandatory vaccination. You are on the list of groups that are being targeted for forced-inoculation. You ask around your neighborhood and nobody else has recieved such a letter. You call around to friends and family and only one or two others have also been given this order. You question why. You call the number provided on the letter and you are told that there is an "outbreak" of some disease and that you are ordered to report or face prison and possibly a forced vaccination in jail. There is nothing that you can do. Under Bill C42, it will be legally mandatory to accept anything the government wants to inject inside of you. If you protest against this you might be labelled a terrorist under Bill C36 for interferring with an "essential public service". If you refuse, the police can invoke measures under Bill C24 to break the law in any way that they see fit to deal with the situation. If you plan a protest outside a government meeting, the area might be classified as a "military zone" under Bill C35 and anyone caught inside of this zone can be arrested as a terrorist. Again, you don't know what the police will do to you in custody because they are now allowed to break the law in anyway they see fit under Bill C24. Welcome to the NEW CANADA!! Welcome to the NEW WORLD ORDER!! The time to act is NOW before it is too late! www.canadianliberty.bc.ca (Note: the situation in the United States is exactly the same under the Patriot Act -->> please read below) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------- http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=971&group=webcast Forced Vaccinations in Canada! by Global Justice Network 4:24pm Mon Jan 28 '02 Time to click on the link and tell the folks in Ottawa how you feel about having someone inject something into "your" body that may kill you! Forced vaccinations coming to Canada: MP Speaks Out Against Bill C-42 Global Justice Network, Vancouver, BC Bill C-42(R), http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/bills_individual.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=1&B ill=C-42&BillType=government called the Public Safety Act (or by others the New and Improved War Measures Act ), amends numerous other Acts of Canada including The Department of Health Act, the Quarantine Act, the Food and Drug Act, and the Hazardous Products Act among others. The Bill has been tabled as part of new anti-terrorism legislation, along with Bill C-35, C-36 (Note: gives new interim powers to the various Ministers in charge of the various Act; powers that have previously been in the hands of the courts, who have an obligation to respect the rule of law and consider impartially the rights of Canadians under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The potential effect of such interim powers were brought up by Bloc Quebecois MP Mario Laframboise in the House of Commons December 3, 2001: I can perhaps try to explain, to help Quebecers listening to us to better understand the new powers that would be given to the Health Minister. It is quite simple: 11.1 (1) The Minister may make an interim order that contains any provision that may be contained in a regulation made under section 11 if the Minister believes that immediate action is required to deal with a significant risk, direct or indirect, to health or safety. Hence, by way of an interim order, a new power has been given to the Health Minister. In the case of the anthrax vaccine or the protective innoculation, this power would have entailed the Minister to give his officials the power to buy the necessary vaccine and to compel every Canadian to receive it. These new dispositions all give more powers and this is what makes it so serious. It is not done simply by giving the minister more powers, because we do not simply give him more powers, we tell him that now an interim order is exempt from the application of sections 3, 5 and 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act . This means that the minister could adopt interim orders for all sorts of emergency purposes and be exempt from the application of sections of the Statutory Instruments Act. And I am not talking about any old section, either. I will read a part of section 3, which would no longer apply to the Minister of Health in the case of interim orders. This section states: 3. (1) Subject to any regulations made pursuant to paragraph 20(a), where a regulation-making authority proposes to make a regulation, it shall cause to be forwarded to the Clerk of the Privy Council three copies of the proposed regulation in both official languages. Now, it would no longer be necessary to send them in both official languages. I read on: (2) On receipt by the Clerk of the Privy Council of copies of a proposed regulation pursuant to subsection (1), the Clerk of the Privy Council, in consultation with the Deputy Minister of Justice, shall examine the proposed regulation to ensure that (a) it is authorized by the statute pursuant to which it is to be made; (b) it does not constitute an unusual or unexpected use of the authority pursuant to which it is to be made; (c) it does not trespass unduly on existing rights and freedoms and is not, in any case, inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms If the Minister of Health is empowered to make interim orders, to purchase vaccines, of whatever kind, exempt from the application of the provisions of enabling legislation, he could very well acquire unacceptable vaccines, vaccines whose patents are held elsewhere. This is no problem. He could then require a group to be vaccinated without complying with the charter of rights and freedoms. All this is effective for 23 days. After 23 days, the regulation must be published. If this does not infringe individual rights and freedoms, I do not know what they can be thinking. If the minister had all these powers, why write in black and white in a bill that, now, he will be able to make interim orders without the House or the usual regulatory procedure requiring him to meet the test of the charter of rights and freedoms. The entire text of this speech in the House of Commons can be obtained at: http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/chambus/house/debates/123_2001-12-03/HAN1 23-E.htm#Int-102138 This legislation is similar to the US Model State Emergency Health Powers Act. Health Scientist and Government Cover-up Investigator Dr. Len Horowitz claims in his article CDC http://www.prophecyandpreparedness.com/Articles/CDC%20Advances%20Totalitaria n%20Legislation%20Under%20Guise%20of%20Public%20Health%20Forced%20Drugging%2 0and%20Injections%20Are%20On%20The%20Horizon.html Advances Totalitarian Legislation Under Guise of Public Health : Forced Drugging and Injections Are On The Horizon that forced vaccinations will soon be authorized in the United States under this proposed Act, a copy of which can be found at http://www.publichealthlaw.net/MSEHPA/MSEHPA.pdf One such amendment allows the Minister of Transport to declare temporary military zones for up to one year, without adherence to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 260.1 (1) of this Bill reads , If it is necessary, in the opinion of the Minister, for the protection of international relations or national defence or security, the Minister, on the recommendation of the Chief of the Defence Staff, may, for the purpose of ensuring the safety or security of any person or thing, designate as a military security zone an area of land or water, a portion of airspace, or a structure or part of one, surrounding a thing referred to in subsection (2) or including it, whether the zone designated is fixed or moves with that thing. The zone automatically includes all corresponding water and land below the earth's surface. This military zone may be designated to protect, includes property, a place or thing that the Canadian Forces have been directed to protect in order to fulfil a duty required by law. This could apply to the Kananaskis location of the upcoming G8 meeting, or any other area where the government wished to restrict legitimate protest and dissent. Under (4) The Canadian Forces may prohibit, restrict or control access to a military security zone ; and under (5) A person found in a military security zone without authorization, and any animal, vehicle, vessel, aircraft or other thing under the person's control, may be forcibly removed by any authorized person, officer or non-commissioned member. Furthermore, with the recent passage of Bill C-24 http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/bills_individual.asp?Language=E&Parl=37&Ses=1&B ill=C-24&BillType=government (otherwise known as the Police Brutality Act ) which is an Act to amend the Criminal Code, public officers and their agents are now exempt from criminal charges under certain and very broad conditions. This Bill was passed by the Senate on December 6, 2001, despite a plethora of credible witnesses' testimony of the dangers of this Bill. The Canadian Bar Association's National Criminal Justice Section says sweeping changes in Bill C-24, will place law enforcement personnel and their agents above the law. "We are opposed to this profound change to the law out of respect for Canadian constitutional guarantees and the rule of law," says Heather Perkins-McVey, of Ottawa, National Criminal Justice Section Chair. The legislation would allow police and even agents of the police to commit serious criminal acts without appropriate accountability, a move the CBA vigorously opposes. "Certainly, police must have the tools they need to do their job. However, creating a criminal exemption for police and their agents will create the possibility of a justice system prone to abuse and misuse of power," says Ms. Perkins-McVey. (see CBA http://news/releases/2001_releases/2001-11-22_police.asp Opposes Putting Police above the Law) For instance, public officers who engage in or direct acts that would otherwise constitute an offense under the Criminal Code can now claim immunity under Section 25.1 if they were: engaged in the investigation of an offence under, or the enforcement of, an Act of Parliament (ie Protection of foreign delegates under C-35 at an international G8 conference or acting under the interim orders of a Minister under C-42) and they believe on reasonable grounds that the commission of the act or omission is reasonable and proportional in the circumstance. (This is left to the officer's discretion). Although the public officer is normally required to obtain written authorization from a senior official, provision is made for the officer to undertake virtually any criminal offense on reasonable grounds that they COULD get such authorization. The evidence is mounting that democracy is now a farce in Canada, as it is in the United States, and that dictatorial power now resides in the Prime Minister and his select group of Ministers. Please take the time to write Senators and Members of Parliament. www.canadianliberty.bc.ca From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Sun Feb 3 15:38:05 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Sun, 3 Feb 2002 15:38:05 -0700 Subject: [R-G] "21ST CENTURY MCCARTHYISM & THE RISE OF THE GLOBAL POLICE STATE" Message-ID: <001001c1ad03$73ff41a0$eba90e3f@ibm22761429477> "21ST CENTURY MCCARTHYISM & THE RISE OF THE GLOBAL POLICE STATE" Speakers: ANGELA DAVIS DIANE CLEMENS - "For Whom the Bell Tolls: American Freedoms" JENNIFER TERRY - Media, the State, & Academia Tuesday February 19, 2002 6:00-8:00 p.m. Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley Free Admission Brought to you by SPAN (Student Peace Action Network) & PSSA (Peace Studies Student Association) Sponsored by the Departments of Women's Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, & Ethnic Studies Contact Person: Xochitl M. Perales, xperales at uclink.berkeley.edu A number of students from UC Berkeley feel that in the aftermath of September 11, there is a growing fear that our civil liberties are in jeopardy. Many activists, students, professors, entertainers and others who have expressed views dissenting from current policies are being labeled unpatriotic, and even "terrorist sympathizers." Directly after September 11, the television show Politically Incorrect lost sponsors and several national newspapers pulled the comic strip The Boondocks. ACTA (American Council of Trustees and Alumni) - an organization co-founded by Dr. Lynne Cheney and Senator Joseph Lieberman - released a list of names of academics along with statements they made in classrooms or public forums questioning aspects of the Administration's war on terrorism. Does this labeling portend the kind of ubiquitous witch hunting that characterized the era of the late Senator Joseph McCarthy? The citizens of the United States are not the only ones being affected by September 11. There is a backlash against immigrants within our borders, and because of our global interconnectedness, citizens and immigrants worldwide are feeling the impact of heightened fear, security measures, and war itself. Many countries are using current events to justify human rights abuses: China claims that past human rights abuses were committed against "suspected terrorists," and Russia excuses atrocities in Chechnya for the same reason. How many states falsely hiding behind the rubric of this war on terrorism will it take before we say, "Enough is enough!"? What kind of world are we creating? And is this the world we want future generations to inherit? Please join us on February 19 as the following speakers present their interpretations of September 11 and its aftermath: Angela Y. Davis is an internationally known political activist, lecturer, writer, and scholar whose contributions to the ongoing quest for economic and social justice have spanned across four decades. In 1998, she co-founded Critical Resistance - a national network bringing together prisoners, activists, scholars, artists and professionals to hold corporations accountable for the expanding prison population. A tenured professor in the History of Consciousness Department at UC Santa Cruz, she is the author of five books, including Women, Race & Class. Her forthcoming book is entitled Punishment and Democracy: Essays on the Prison Industrial Complex. Diane Shaver Clemens is a professor of American Diplomatic and International History in the History Department at UC Berkeley. She teaches survey courses and advanced courses in American Foreign Relations and American Multi-Cultural History, and seminars on WWII, the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Author of Yalta (Oxford University Press, 1970) - regarding the World War II negotiations for post-war peace -- she is currently researching the transition from World War II to Early Cold War, the growth of Presidential power in foreign policy through executive agreements, and Heroism and War. Jennifer Terry is an associate professor in the Comparative Studies Department at Ohio State University, and is currently a visiting professor in the Women's Studies Department at UC Berkeley. Her work is in Cultural Studies of Science and Technology, where her particular focus is on gender, race, and sexuality. She is a co-founder of Professors for Peace -- an international network of educators "committed to promoting non-violent solutions to global conflicts and to countering racism and anti-immigrant aggression" in the aftermath of September 11. From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sun Feb 3 22:20:08 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 00:20:08 -0500 Subject: [R-G] WEF, ACTIVISTS BEATEN UNCONSCIOUS, SPRAYED ARRESTED IN ACTIONAGAINST POLICE RESTRICTIONS ON PROTEST Message-ID: <002101c1ad3b$9d2025d0$33378d18@Indy1> Pictures of this incident can be found here http://nyc-cache.phillyimc.org/front.php3?article_id=18644&group=webcast and elsewhere at nyc.indymedia.org ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chuck Munson" > To: > Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 7:17 PM > Subject: (en) US, NY, WEF, ACTIVISTS BEATEN UNCONSCIOUS,SPRAYED ARRESTED IN > ACTIONAGAINST POLICE RESTRICTIONS ON PROTEST > > > > ________________________________________________ > > A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E > > http://www.ainfos.ca/ > > ________________________________________________ > > > > > From: todd eaton > > > > ACTIVISTS ARRESTED IN ACTION AGAINST POLICE RESTRICTIONS ON PROTEST; > > DOZENS > > INJURED; PRESS CONFERENCE CALLED FOR TOMORROW > > > > FEBRUARY 3, 2001 - Sixty activists were arrested this afternoon by New > York Police while performing a "snake march" along the sidewalks of the East > Village, while dozens of others were beaten and pepper-sprayed by police. > Police told the People's Law Collective, an anarchist legal collective, that > > as many as 50 more may still be arrested. > > The snake march, a direct-action protest tactic in which activists link > arms and dance along streets and sidewalks in an unpredictable route as a > way to reestablish public space for festivity and free expression, began at > St Marks Place and Second Avenue. Marchers had reached Second Avenue between > 12th and 13th Streets at about 1:30pm when fully-geared riot police, with > two corrections vans, ambushed them. > > The 60 arrests were accompanied by dozens of injuries, as police knocked to > the ground a group of activists who were crossing the street legally but > were not engaged in the march. At least one person was knocked unconscious, > picked up and placed in a corrections van. > > One report said that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chief Raymond Kelly were > on the scene observing the police actions. The march was called by the > Anti-Capitalist Convergence, a New York-based collective of > anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist activists that had also participated in > yesterday's anti-World Economic Forum march from 59th Street and Fifth > Avenue to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Members of the ACC were subjected to > an unprovoked attack from police at that march; police charged the crowd of > activists, beat and pepper-sprayed many, and hauled 20 out for random > arrests. The 20 are being arraigned today at 100 Centre Street, after having > spent 12 hours yesterday in a police van without water or communication. > > "The police overreacted," Joe Keady, a member of Anti-Capitalist > Convergence, said of today's incident. "There was such a buildup to the > World Economic Forum protests yesterday, and they spent that whole day with > nothing really to do. They were bored, and I guess they decided to make some > action for themselves." > > Keady suspects the marchers were "profiled" by police, who may have been > tipped off that the march was going to take place. However, "there's no > excuse for a vicious attack like this," Keady says. > > Roots Media Collective is calling a press conference on the incident for > tomorrow afternoon at the Walker Space, 56 Walker Street in Manhattan, to > present more information on this incident and what legal action may be > taken. > > Roots Media Collective is a group of independent journalists and media > activists that was formed in 2000 and is based in New York City. > > # # # # # > > > > re-forwarded see header > > > > ROOTS MEDIA COLLECTIVE > > > > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > > > Contact: > > Kate Cooper > > (917) 374-3807 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ________ > > corrected Legal Support Number during the WEF meeting in NYC: > > 917.807.0658 > > calendar of wef demos http://nyc.indymedia.org/wefinfo/calendar.html > > > > Anti-WEF Welcome Center at Sixth Street Community Center: 638 East 6th > > St. bet. Aves. B and C. > > > > The World Economic Forum is coming to New York City Midtown > > January 31st - February 4th > > > > Another World is Possible (Coal. against World Economic Forum meeting in > > NYC): > > List-Subscribe: and > > mailto:no2wef-digest-subscribe at yahoogroups.com > > http://anotherworldispossible.com > > > > IF YOU ARE USING MCAFEE ANTIVIRUS, UPDATE IT FREQUENTLY: > > http://download.mcafee.com/updates/updates.asp or version 4: > > http://www.nai.com/naicommon/download/dats/mcafee_4x.asp > > > > IF YOU HAVE NO ANTIVIRUS TRY FREE SHAREWARE AT: > > http://housecall.antivirus.com OR http://shareware.com OR > > http://zdnet.com > > OR TRY ANY SOFTWARE PRICE COMPARISON SITE in > > .... > > > > NYC Event Lists and Calendar Links > > http://home.earthlink.net/~nicadlw/creedcal.html > > http://www.geocities.com/artandpolitics//events/ > > http://www.autonomedia.org > > http://nysaynotowar.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Calendar&file=index > > > > NYC Subway Maps > > http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/maps/mapsys919.pdf > > > > > > Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP): > > mid-east history primer, articles http://merip.org > > > > > > - eFax (425) 984-8490 - -PGP key on request- > > > > want less mail?: > > mailto:redscares at yahoo.com?subject=PleaseStopMailingMe > > _______________________________________________ > > infoshop-news mailing list > > infoshop-news at infoshop.org > > http://www.infoshop.org/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-news > > > > > > > > ******** > > ****** The A-Infos News Service ****** > > News about and of interest to anarchists > > ****** > > COMMANDS: lists at ainfos.ca > > REPLIES: a-infos-d at ainfos.ca > > HELP: a-infos-org at ainfos.ca > > WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca/ > > INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org > > > > -To receive a-infos in one language only mail lists at ainfos.ca the message: > > unsubscribe a-infos > > subscribe a-infos-X > > where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code) > From wmmmandel at earthlink.net Mon Feb 4 00:09:14 2002 From: wmmmandel at earthlink.net (William Mandel) Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2002 23:09:14 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Re: [Redbadbear] "21ST CENTURY MCCARTHYISM & THE RISE OF THE GLOBAL POLICE STATE" References: <001001c1ad03$73ff41a0$eba90e3f@ibm22761429477> Message-ID: <3C5E339A.F1F1E73A@earthlink.net> Mighn't it be a good idea if someone who confronted McCarthy in person, and won, were among the speakers at such a forum? I refer to myself. See my website www.BillMandel.net for the text of my testimony when he called me, and for deeper information go to my book described in the signature tab below. William Mandel Hunter Gray wrote: > > "21ST CENTURY MCCARTHYISM & > THE RISE OF THE GLOBAL POLICE STATE" > > Speakers: > ANGELA DAVIS > DIANE CLEMENS - "For Whom the Bell Tolls: American > Freedoms" > JENNIFER TERRY - Media, the State, & Academia > > Tuesday February 19, 2002 > 6:00-8:00 p.m. > Wheeler Auditorium, UC Berkeley > Free Admission > > Brought to you by SPAN (Student Peace Action Network) > & PSSA (Peace Studies Student Association) Sponsored > by the Departments of Women's Studies, Peace and > Conflict Studies, & Ethnic Studies > > Contact Person: Xochitl M. Perales, > xperales at uclink.berkeley.edu > > A number of students from UC Berkeley feel that in the > aftermath of September 11, there is a growing fear > that our civil liberties are in jeopardy. Many > activists, students, professors, entertainers and > others who have expressed views dissenting from > current policies are being labeled unpatriotic, and > even "terrorist sympathizers." Directly after > September 11, the television show Politically > Incorrect lost sponsors and several national > newspapers pulled the comic strip The Boondocks. ACTA > (American Council of Trustees and Alumni) - an > organization co-founded by Dr. Lynne Cheney and > Senator Joseph Lieberman - released a list of names of > academics along with statements they made in > classrooms or public forums questioning aspects of the > Administration's war on terrorism. Does this labeling > portend the kind of ubiquitous witch hunting that > characterized the era of the late Senator Joseph > McCarthy? > > The citizens of the United States are not the only > ones being affected by September 11. There is a > backlash against immigrants within our borders, and > because of our global interconnectedness, citizens and > immigrants worldwide are feeling the impact of > heightened fear, security measures, and war itself. > Many countries are using current events to justify > human rights abuses: China claims that past human > rights abuses were committed against "suspected > terrorists," and Russia excuses atrocities in Chechnya > for the same reason. How many states falsely hiding > behind the rubric of this war on terrorism will it > take before we say, "Enough is enough!"? What kind of > world are we creating? And is this the world we want > future generations to inherit? > > Please join us on February 19 as the following > speakers present their interpretations of September 11 > and its aftermath: > > Angela Y. Davis is an internationally known political > activist, lecturer, writer, and scholar whose > contributions to the ongoing quest for economic and > social justice have spanned across four decades. In > 1998, she co-founded Critical Resistance - a national > network bringing together prisoners, activists, > scholars, artists and professionals to hold > corporations accountable for the expanding prison > population. A tenured professor in the History of > Consciousness Department at UC Santa Cruz, she is the > author of five books, including Women, Race & Class. > Her forthcoming book is entitled Punishment and > Democracy: Essays on the Prison Industrial Complex. > > Diane Shaver Clemens is a professor of American > Diplomatic and International History in the History > Department at UC Berkeley. She teaches survey courses > and advanced courses in American Foreign Relations and > American Multi-Cultural History, and seminars on WWII, > the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Author of Yalta > (Oxford University Press, 1970) - regarding the World > War II negotiations for post-war peace -- she is > currently researching the transition from World War II > to Early Cold War, the growth of Presidential power in > foreign policy through executive agreements, and > Heroism and War. > > Jennifer Terry is an associate professor in the > Comparative Studies Department at Ohio State > University, and is currently a visiting professor in > the Women's Studies Department at UC Berkeley. Her > work is in Cultural Studies of Science and Technology, > where her particular focus is on gender, race, and > sexuality. She is a co-founder of Professors for > Peace -- an international network of educators > "committed to promoting non-violent solutions to > global conflicts and to countering racism and > anti-immigrant aggression" in the aftermath of > September 11. > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck > Monitoring Service trial > http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/.zNplB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > Redbadbear-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ -- ======================================================== My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999), was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the American people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious movements: labor, student, peace, civil rights South and North, civil liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee, the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website, http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON PACIFICA), with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist movement, although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife, Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The book is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed copy, send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611 ======================================================== From mstainsby at tao.ca Mon Feb 4 14:37:10 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 13:37:10 -0800 Subject: [R-G] DPRK Update: AFP. Message-ID: <02f501c1adc4$1b35f200$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> AFP. 2 February 2002. North Korean leader visits military unit amid new US tension. SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has made his first public appearance in three weeks with a visit to a military unit after US President George W. Bush branded his communist state part of an "axis of evil." Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim inspected Korean People's Army Unit No. 1200 on Friday. The unit's location was not given. "He said ... no force on earth can overpower these great forces firmly determined not to allow any aggressors to dare invade the inviolable territory of our country but wipe them out to the last one at the risk of their lives," KCNA said in a dispatch Saturday. According to the report, Kim said the "valiant" soldiers of the People's Army were standing guard on the front lines where "a grim class struggle is under way." The soldiers were showing the "heroic stamina" of communist Korea by weathering out "the raging wind raised by imperialists with a violent revolutionary storm," he said. Kim frequently visits military units but the latest tour marks his first outing in three weeks, South Korean state-run KBS radio said. Aside from the rare statement, he stuck to the usual routine of inquiring after the welfare of soldiers, looking round entertainment and logistics facilities and seeing an art performance given by soldiers. He presented a pair of binoculars, a machine gun and an automatic rifle as gifts and had a photograph taken with the soldiers. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 4 17:37:33 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 16:37:33 PST Subject: [R-G] With NDP crushed, labour filling opposition vacuum in British Columbia - CP Message-ID: <200202050037.g150bXB16726@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 4 17:39:17 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 16:39:17 PST Subject: [R-G] BC labour strife flows from deep vein - Vancouver Sun Message-ID: <200202050039.g150dHB18495@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 4 17:39:01 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 16:39:01 PST Subject: [R-G] BC labour strife flows from deep vein - Vancouver Sun Message-ID: <200202050039.g150d2B18185@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 4 17:41:45 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 16:41:45 PST Subject: [R-G] Our Democracy After 9/11: Can We Save It? Message-ID: <200202050041.g150fjB20925@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 4 17:42:51 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 16:42:51 PST Subject: [R-G] Rightist ex-generals propose massive invasion of territories - Haaretz Message-ID: <200202050042.g150gpB21799@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 4 17:40:46 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 16:40:46 PST Subject: [R-G] Afghan prospects for peace unravel - G&M Message-ID: <200202050040.g150ekB19976@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 4 19:01:16 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 21:01:16 -0500 Subject: [R-G] More on Bush Seeking To Restrict Hill 9-11 Probes (and much more from Truthout) Message-ID: <05c201c1ade8$ff79b9f0$33378d18@Indy1> ----- Original Message ----- From: "t r u t h o u t" To: "truthout" Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2002 3:25 PM Subject: Bush Seeks To Restrict Hill 9-11 Probes > t r u t h o u t | 02.04 > > Bush Seeks To Restrict Hill 9-11 Probes > http://www.truthout.com/02.04A.Bush.Limit.911.htm > > Enron Executives May Seek Immunity > http://www.truthout.com/02.04B.Enron.Immunity.htm > > Court Tells Cheney to Explain Task Force Secrecy > http://www.truthout.com/02.04C.Court.Cheney.htm > > Bush Budget Medicare, Child Care Slashed -- Drilling a Priority > http://www.truthout.com/02.04D.Bush.Budget.htm > > Study Puts Finland First, and U.S. 51st, in Environmental Health > http://www.truthout.com/02.04E.Env.Study.htm > > Boy's Death Shows Wider Afghan Woes > http://www.truthout.com/02.04F.Afg.Child.Death.htm > > White House Buys Anti-Terror Super Bowl Spots > http://www.truthout.com/02.04G.WH.Ads.Bowl.htm > > t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source. > http://www.truthout.com > > Subscribe to, t r u t h o u t - (Free) : > > > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > > t r u t h o u t | 02.03 > > TO Interviews | Greg Palast > http://www.truthout.com/02.03A.Intv.Palast.htm > > White House Told Not to Destroy Enron Papers > http://www.truthout.com/02.03B.DOJ.No.Shread.htm > > David Walker's Letter to Henry Waxmen on Cheney Suit > http://www.truthout.com/02.03C.Walker.2.Waxman.htm > > Lay gave List of Favored Names to White House for Energy Panel > http://www.truthout.com/02.03D.Lay.List.htm > > Halliburton's Iraq Deals Greater Than Cheney Has Said > http://www.truthout.com/02.03E.Hallib.Iraq.htm > > Robert Scheer | A Walk in the Valley of Greed > http://www.truthout.com/02.03F.Valley.Greed.htm > > Buffalo Feild Campaign | News from the Field 01.31.2002 > http://www.truthout.com/02.03G.Buffalo.htm > > t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source. > http://www.truthout.com > > Subscribe to, t r u t h o u t - (Free) : > > > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > > t r u t h o u t | 02.02.02 > > Waxman Letter | Secretary of the Army > http://www.truthout.com/02.02A.Wax.White.htm > > Jennifer Van Bergen | Is This a Democracy, or What? > http://www.truthout.com/02.02B.jvb.Democracy.htm > > John W. Dean | GAO V. Cheney Is Big-Time Stalling > The Vice President Can Win Only If We Have Another Bush v. Gore -like Ruling > http://www.truthout.com/02.02C.Dean.GAO.htm > > Gephardt Statement on the President's Proposals for Pension Reform > http://www.truthout.com/02.02D.Gephardt.Pensions.htm > > Another Enron-White House Connection > http://www.truthout.com/02.02E.Enron.WH.htm > > U.S. Economy Sheds More Jobs, but Jobless Rate Falls to 5.6% > http://www.truthout.com/02.02F.Jobless.Rate.htm > > Harvard Watch's "Trading Truth: A Report on Harvard's Enron Entanglements" > http://www.truthout.com/02.02G.Harvard.Watch.htm > > t r u t h o u t, is a non-profit independent news source. > http://www.truthout.com > > Subscribe to, t r u t h o u t - (Free) : > > > _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ > > ----------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe send an email to: > requests at truthout.com > with > UNSUBSCRIBE TRUTHOUT > in the BODY of the message. > > From nick at faunusherbs.com Tue Feb 5 09:29:58 2002 From: nick at faunusherbs.com (Nick Morcinek) Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 11:29:58 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Israeli Reservists Refuse Territories Duty References: <002301c1a8ea$2c4641a0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> Message-ID: <00cd01c1ae9c$61f54640$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> This is the same excuse/argument used to justify complicity, oppression and atrocity by all those who are guilty of crimes against humanity. If it undermines Israeli democracy to have people of conscience step forward and protest these brutal crimes then Israeli democracy has no meaning. "I was just following orders" is the catch-all justification used everywhere. It was not acceptable at Nuremberg and it is not acceptable here. These reservists have shown courage under difficult circumstances. Perhaps their example will inspire others. I hope so.... Nicholas > Israeli Reservists Refuse Territories Duty >> > The spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Raanan Gissin, said > allegations of abuse by the army should be investigated, but he dismissed > the petition and refusals to serve in the army as a "marginal phenomenon." > The petition "undermines the basic tenet of Israeli democracy," he said. > "You can't have a government in which people can decide they'll . . . bomb > this target but not that target. You abide by the rule of the majority, and > the majority has decided this is the government and this is its policy." From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Tue Feb 5 16:53:09 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 18:53:09 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Report of Nato in Protests Munich Message-ID: <000c01c1aea0$43ee0fc0$33378d18@Indy1> ----- Original Message ----- From: boadicca To: Lysander Zimmerman Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 3:18 AM Subject: Fw: Nato Protests Munich from euforthepeople at gmx.net on (german-organised) mailing list of same name euforthepeople at yahoogroups.com supplemented with info from IMC belgium Nato Protests Munich Protests against the "Conference on Security Policy" in Munich, Germany, February 1st - 3rd. latest update: Sunday 3 February, 3.30 pm **LAST MINUTE: 70 YEAR OLD WOMAN IN COMA AFTER BEING STRUCK BY POLICE** Saturday 2 February Short summary since 7pm: Today 7000 people had been in the streets protesting against NATO and war - despite all meetings outside had been strictly forbidden before. The police tried again and again to prevent meetings and spontaneous demonstrations by encircling groups of demonstrators and arbitrarily arresting some of them. Altogether at least 400 people have been arrested today, most of them (280) at a mass arrest at a place near the main train station. People had been encircled there the whole evening, than they were brought to a police station where they had to stay outside in the backyard half the (cold) night. there are also reports that arrested people had been locked up in very small cages waiting for a recognition-official handling. The house of the "DGB" (the roof organisation of german trade unions), where the press conference and international discussion meeting with some hundreds of participants took place, has been surrounded by police for several hours. For a long time police said they would not let people leave from there without being controled. TradeUnion-people mentioned the last time that police threatened an official trade-union-building was in 1933 when the german nazi- fascists had their seizure of power... 6.21pm: Several hundred people are still demonstrating in Munich's inner city. 5.22pm: Several groups surrounded by police in the area Frauenstr./Isartor/Talstr.; police first tried to arrest everyone, then retreated on one side to let people out 4.18pm: Confrontations between demonstrators and police - police using pepper spray and batons, some protesters responding by throwing bottles. 4.11pm: The demonstration is stopped at Talstrasse. Several groups are surrounded and blocked in by police. There are many arrests. However, groups of protesters are moving all over the city. 3.30pm: 4000-5000 people have broken through police lines and are now moving fast towards Marien square. Water cannons are approaching, good mood in the demo. 2.40pm: Solidarity demonstrations in Kiel, Berlin, and other cities. Thousands protest against a Nazi march in Bielefeld. 2.37pm: The demonstration (3-4000 people now) has stopped at the corner Frauenstr. and Zwingerstr. When demo attempted to move police baton charged - many injured protesters. 1.42pm: People have been gathering at Marienplatz, despite the ban. When attempting to start the demo as planned, most of the crowd got surrounded and blocked in by police. Police is now retreating slightly, the demo is moving off towards Isar Gate (as planned). 1.30pm: Buses from Berlin, Freiburg and K?ln, which have been stopped by police on their way to Munich are now on their way to N?rnberg to meet for spontaneous demonstration at the main station. 11.50am: Reports are coming in that whole buses travelling to Munich are prevented from reaching their destination; several hundred people were arrested last night, including people who were arrested while they were shopping; many of those arrested were prevented from calling legal aid (which is your legal right); several arrested are reportedly held in cages. Friday 1 February 9.50pm: 2000 people demonstrate in Zuerich in solidarity with the Munich and New York protests; police attack the protesters with water cannons and tear gas 9.50pm: Several spontaneous demonstrations happening in various parts of Munich in the evening; arrests and minor confrontations between protesters and police; overall an estimated 250 arrests so far. 6.50pm: Police disperse people very aggressively, several injured, many arrests for no apparent reason. Short report 6pm: 2000 people in "Marienplatz", riot police try to disperse the crowd, surround parts of them. 5.30pm: People are gathering in the main square (Marienplatz) for a "press conference". After day-long police-harassment, police are keeping a low profile at the moment. 1.30pm: small demonstration against the ban on freedom of speech: People are walking through the city with blank, white banners. A "red zone" has been established around the conference venue - no protesters allowed in. Controls all over the city, people are prevented to get to Munich by car or by train. Several people involved in the network which called for the protests have been arrested. A major rally in Munich's main square had been planned for today but was declared illegal yesterday, as was the big demonstration planned for Saturday. Instead, pleople are now planning to distribute flyers all over the city: "Resistance can not be prevented". For Saturday the idea is to take part in large numbers in the winter sale in Munich's city-center. Thursday 31 january All planned demonstrations and rallies against the Nato meeting were declared illegal by the city council today. Activist groups and NGOs challenged the ban in court, but the complaint was rejected. Nevertheless, the actions are going ahead. A first demonstration took place in the early evening. 2000 people demonstrated peacefully in Munich's central square against the Nato meeting and against the ban on demonstrations. See pictures of before the demo started here. After the demonstration, one activist was detained by the police - the reason referred was his former registration as an activist and the (at the time not yet decided) demonstration ban. In the morning, an established, legal infoshop - which was going to serve as infopoint during the days of action - had been raided by police. Generally, the run-up to the events has included wide-spread attempts of intimidation and repression by the Munich city council and the police. All infrastructure, such as sleeping places for the expected thousands of protesters, infopoints etc. was blocked or cancelled due to government pressure. The venue for a benefit gig was told it may face closure if the gig went ahead, each and every attempt to mobilise for the protests has been facing the risk of legal consequences. Known activists were "warned" in letters or by telephone calls not to take part in demonstrations. Freedom of speech, movement and assembly are heavily restricted. The local media have played the well-known role of stirring up fear of "violence" by "leftwing extremists", who allegedly want to make Munich a "second Genoa". Thereby they have tried their best to justify heavy-handed police actions, a ban on protests and a criminalisation of protesters. They have effectively turned reality upside down by accusing anti-war protesters - and not the generals and army officials meeting in Munich - of "violence". From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 5 17:01:40 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 16:01:40 PST Subject: [R-G] Enron's power project in India demonstrates who benefits from globalization - Arundhati Roy Message-ID: <200202060001.g1601eB10948@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 5 17:04:52 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 16:04:52 PST Subject: [R-G] Visit to NY economic forum convinces Campbell he's on the right track - Vancouver Sun Message-ID: <200202060004.g1604qB13875@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 5 17:03:37 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 16:03:37 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush warned over 'Axis of Evil' - The Guardian Message-ID: <200202060003.g1603bB12584@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Tue Feb 5 17:03:52 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 17:03:52 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Owls and Indians -- and some radicals who are neither Message-ID: <000901c1aea1$c50b3be0$a5a90e3f@ibm22761429477> It's often rough to be a genuine radical in Free America, and it's frequently tough as hell to live in this country and be a Native American who is also a radical. And it isn't just the bosses and their legions and the racists who throw the thorns and gritty sand and the knives and hatchets. It's also -- sometimes -- the non-Indian radicals: some of the sisters and brothers of the various Red Cards. Not all of the non-Indian radicals by any means. Some are genuinely fine. No sweat. But some, no matter how they may see themselves, have considerable growing still to do -- regardless of their particular chronological age. Not that these are bad folks -- because virtually all of them, whatever their personal and ideological idiosyncrasies, are good and committed and courageous. Unlike the general situation in earlier eras, they mostly do recognize that Native Americans still exist. We've gained good ground on that score. But they can still fall far, far short from that which we Natives wistfully hope and still sometimes naively expect. [After all, "from they who hath more, more is expected."] They can sometimes -- these particular non-Indian radicals -- be as arrogantly and maddeningly and callously ethnocentric as a Christian jack-leg preacher on the edges of Gallup. He -- the preacher man -- knows we exist. He just wants us in his corral and he wants us to be just like him. Here, from an e-mail discussion list [with which I don't happen to be affiliated] is an older Anglo socialist -- from an Eastern city -- recently worrying about " . . .people who wallow in politics of identity, particularly national identity. Some of those people are among us and need to be made aware of danger of stressing tribal, pagan, new age identity stuff and its incompatibility with rational modernist politics of democratic socialism. " Chill. Glacier Chill. Missionary and government and school principal chill. Well, my idea of socialist democracy is that -- democracy -- and in the context of a full measure of bread-and-butter and a full measure of liberty. And to feather it out some more -- that means everyone having the maximum number of reasonable choices. And that boils down to the right to be themselves in whichever socio-cultural setting -- or blending -- they wish. I'm a Red. And I also -- because I have a very special life-long relationship with the Bear -- sometimes for special reasons wear a bear tooth around and well below my neck. Out of sight. Nothing at all ostentatious. It's not a secret thing -- just private. And that's just one of many, many things that for me are soul-basic. My kind of socialist democracy welcomes the right and respects the obligation that I, as a Native person, have to those deepest-fires-of-all. Or any one else has to his and her Way. There's lots of lip service in radical circles to the Native cause -- once you raise it. People may even ask you -- as an Indigenous Red -- to write articles about the myriad of challenges facing Indian and Eskimo and Aleut people. And, usually, the articles eventually get published. And hopefully read. And maybe even acted upon. Sometimes then, the previously unaware non-Indian radical can understand why family and clan and tribe and tribal culture and a serving-the-community ethos are so critical to us. And why we fight for all treaty rights and for full sovereignty and for bona fide self-determination. And why we are so committed to preservation of our communally owned earth and to the very careful and respectful usage of its resources. And why we always protect our sacred places. But I've learned that often simple intellectualizing doesn't get the message through to non-Indians -- nearly as well as, say, true stories. Stories that for them are unusual stories. Things that don't come from professors' notes or blackboard formulae. So I think I'll talk about Owls. One story is sad and the other is glad. All things are consciously meaningful to Native and to other tribal people -- and to others if those roots are genuinely close. And this certainly includes animals and birds. These thoughts are about owls of whom I've been lately seeing many. I'm not really an owl person at all. But every Indian is attuned in some fashion to those essentially lone fliers of dusk and shadow. And whenever I hear, as I so often do in the evening or early morning, the hoot of an owl -- or see a big, heavy bird flying slowly in the darkness low above and around the trees -- there are for me some very special memories. I remember Nadine -- of a long, long time ago. I was in my very early teens and she, an extremely attractive young Native woman from a tribe with few members in our immediate area, was in Flagstaff to attend Arizona State and especially my father's art classes. He painted her -- a fine oil portrait which caught so very well her composed and quietly reflective and pleasant essence. And then one day she went with several other Native college students on an outing to the edges of the vast Sycamore Canyon wilderness area southwest of Flagstaff. At one point, still afternoon with the sun 'way up, they parked their car on the edges of the relatively rough forest road surrounded by yellow pine mixed with scrub oak. They had just stopped and Nadine was sitting in the front seat. And then suddenly, down -- fast, fast down -- came a shadow, landing on the hood of the car. It was an big owl, whose daytime appearance was as unusual as snow in Northern Arizona in August. It can happen but it virtually never does. Planted on the hood, faced by several startled young people, the owl looked through the glass windshield at only at one -- and to that one, Nadine, it looked hard and directly into her eyes for a long, long moment. And then it flew away. And Nadine said, " He has told me that I am going to die." She was the only person of her tribe in the car. And there are as many different Native cultures as there are Native tribes. This was not the belief of the others and, although shaken, they attempted to talk her out of it -- pointing to her excellent health. But she said virtually nothing and they all then returned to Flagstaff. Three days later she was dead. The causes were "natural" -- but never even remotely delineated. Her portrait, the young and serene and assured person of a vastly long time ago -- another age -- hangs timeless and full-of-life right here in our Idaho home. Jump far ahead in time to the Navajo Nation country, 'way up in the beautiful, very isolated Lukachukai Mountain region -- in what's technically Arizona, not far from Four Corners where Arizona and New Mexico and Utah and Colorado intersect. There it is very high altitude -- 7,000 feet above sea level -- at Navajo Community College [now Dine' College] where I was then teaching and doing some other academic and some activist things. But the Sun is bright and generally very warm even in the winter -- the season at which this particular event occurred. And it isn't all that windy right there. I was in my classroom with about thirty Native [mostly Navajo] students -- trying to take western/world sociology and, through intellectual and psychic alchemy, transpose it into something meaningful for both the Navajo and American worlds. And then -- something very unusual -- a young policeman came to the open door, immediately drawing the attention of my students and then, of course, myself. He was a friend, a campus security officer, as well as a student. "Could you come with me for just a few minutes?" he asked. "It's important and I know you are the one person who can help." We walked out of the building as he added, "Some people are a little concerned." He pointed to the towering Ned A. Hatathli Cultural Center about one hundred yards away -- reaching six stories above ground toward the deep blue turquoise sky. The Center is named for my father's long-time art student and old family friend, the late trail-blazing Navajo educator who was the principal founder of the College. Ned had also known Nadine. My security officer friend pointed to the very top of the Center. "See that," said he. I saw -- 'way up, sitting on the very top -- a huge super-white owl. Looking right down in our direction. "My God," I said, "I'd have to go to Maine or Canada to see that." I went on, "That's Snowy Owl." I looked hard. "Probably a male, given his size and the way the feathers look." He grinned, relaxing slightly. "I knew you were the only one around here who could help us." Then he grew serious again. "Tell me, is he O.K.?" "He's O.K." I said, "Nothing to worry about. No witch thing. Just a little off his regular trail." The officer now relaxed very visibly. Then I looked around. Most of the class had quietly followed us. They were grouped a bit self-consciously and cautiously at a distance. Calling them over, I explained that Snowy Owl is an Arctic and Sub-Arctic friend that goes a little further south to winter and was undoubtedly forced 'way down into our area by the rough storms coming through the Plains and Rockies -- right into the not far away San Juan range of Southwestern Colorado. "What safer place for him?" I asked, "Than the top of our Cultural Center?" Agreement was widespread on that. Other people were now gathering. Class was obviously over -- co-opted by our extremely impressive visitor. And people were glad he'd come to see us all. "Maybe he's bringing us something good," one of my students quipped. Another, with a practical bent, added seriously "we'll take all the help we can get." Snowy Owl stayed around through that day and the following night and the next whole day, immobile and impassive -- impressively so. His is the only flesh and blood entity I've ever known who could play to his audience without an apparent flicker of motion. But sometime that next night, undoubtedly sensing the cessation of storms to the north and far up and beyond, he quietly left. And we missed him. But I remembered -- as I always do -- Nadine. And all of the things so very deep and so very old and so very precious. Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] www.hunterbear.org (social justice) Left Discussion Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Redbadbear From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 5 17:05:48 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2002 16:05:48 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush counts on the war without end - Toronto Star Message-ID: <200202060005.g1605mB14800@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Tue Feb 5 17:38:06 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 19:38:06 -0500 Subject: [R-G] VisionTV's Latest Segment on "The Great Deception" + Bush Counts on a War Withou Message-ID: <003e01c1aea6$8b0a0b60$33378d18@Indy1> Two things: #1- Feature update on www.hamilton.indymedia.org about VisionTV's latest segment on "The Great Deception: What Really Happened on September 11th?" http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=972&group=webcast #2 - Article from the Toronto Star "Bush counts on the war without end". (big link, copy and paste if it gets cut in half) http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Artic le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1012820898591&call_page=TS_AttackOnAmerica_Dec7&call_ pageid=1007382634643&call_pagepath=News/World/US-Bombings From info at cinox.demon.co.uk Tue Feb 5 18:26:18 2002 From: info at cinox.demon.co.uk (Tim Murphy) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 01:26:18 -0000 Subject: [R-G] AXIS OF.... JUST AS EVIL (Humor) Message-ID: ANGERED BY SNUBBING, LYBIA, CHINA, SYRIA FORM AXIS OF JUST AS EVIL Cuba, Sudan, Serbia Form Axis of Somewhat Evil; Other Nations Start Own Clubs Beijing - Bitter after being snubbed for membership in the "Axis of Evil," Libya, China, and Syria today announced they had formed the "Axis of Just as Evil," which they said would be way eviler than that stupid Iran-Iraq-North Korea axis President Bush warned of his State of the Union address. Axis of Evil members, however, immediately dismissed the new axis as having, for starters, a really dumb name. "Right. They are Just as Evil... in their dreams!" declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-il."Everybody knows we're the best evils... best at being evil... we're the best." Diplomats from Syria denied they were jealous over being excluded, although they conceded they did ask if they could join the Axis of Evil. "They told us it was full," said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "An Axis can't have more than three countries," explained Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "This is not my rule, it's tradition. In World War II you had Germany, Italy, and Japan in the evil Axis. So you can only have three. And a secret handshake. Ours is wicked cool." THE AXIS PANDEMIC International reaction to Bush's Axis of Evil declaration was swift, as within minutes, France surrendered. Elsewhere, peer-conscious nations rushed to gain triumvirate status in what became a game of geopolitical chairs. Cuba, Sudan, and Serbia said they had formed the Axis of Somewhat Evil, forcing Somalia to join with Uganda and Myanmar in the Axis of Occasionally Evil, while Bulgaria, Indonesia and Russia established the Axis of Not So Much Evil Really As Just Generally Disagreeable. With the criteria suddenly expanded and all the desirable clubs filling up, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, and Rwanda applied to be called the Axis of Countries That Aren't the Worst But Certainly Won't Be Asked to Host the Olympics; Canada, Mexico, and Australia formed the Axis of Nations That Are Actually Quite Nice But Secretly Have Nasty Thoughts About America, while Spain, Scotland, and New Zealand established the Axis of Countries That Be Allowed to Ask Sheep to Wear Lipstick. "That's not a threat, really, just something we like to do," said Scottish Executive First Minister Jack McConnell. While wondering if the other nations of the world weren't perhaps making fun of him, a cautious Bush granted approval for most axes, although he rejected the establishment of the Axis of Countries Whose Names End in "Guay," accusing one of its members of filing a false application. Officials from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chadguay denied the charges. Israel, meanwhile, insisted it didn't want to join any Axis, but privately, world leaders said that's only because no one asked them. ------------ From jmarshal at ol.com.au Mon Feb 4 03:56:12 2002 From: jmarshal at ol.com.au (Jon Marshall) Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 21:56:12 +1100 Subject: [R-G] [Fwd: [Fwd: An Open Letter to George W. Bush from MichaelMoore]] Message-ID: <3C5E68CC.C609F897@ol.com.au> Probably this is all too liberal for some but its kinda cute jon > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: An Open Letter to George W. Bush from Michael Moore > Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 17:44:30 -0000 > From: "nettime's_roving_reporter" > Reply-To: "nettime's_roving_reporter" > To: nettime-l at bbs.thing.net > > 1/29/2002 > > "George W. in the Garden of Gethsemane" > An Open Letter to George W. Bush from Michael Moore > > Dear George, > > When it's all over in a couple months, and you're packing up your pretzels > and Spot and heading back to Texas, what will be your biggest regret? Not > getting out more often and seeing the sights around Rock Creek Park? Never > once visiting the newly-renovated IKEA in Woodbridge, Virginia? Or buying > your way to the White House with money from a company that committed the > biggest corporate swindle in American history? I got a feeling you didn't > miss much by not spending an entire Saturday afternoon assembling a > Swedish bookcase -- but you should have known that there was no way you > would ever finish your term by hopping into bed with Kenneth Lay. > > It's kind of sad when you think about it. Here you were -- the most > popular president ever! -- the recipient of so much good will from your > fellow Americans after September 11, and then you had to go and blow it. > > You just couldn't stay away from your old cowpoke friend from Texas, > Kenneth Lay. > > Kenny has always been there for you. You needed a way to fly around to all > the primaries and campaign stops in the 2000 election -- so Kenny gave you > his corporate jet. Did you tell the voters when you arrived in each city > that the bird you flew in on was from a billionaire who was secretly > conspiring to give the bird to all his employees and investors? He flew > you around America on the Enron company jet, and for that favor you > touched down on tarmac after tarmac to tell your fellow citizens that you > were "going to restore dignity to the White House, the people's house." > You said this standing in front of an Enron jet! > > Man, you loved Lay so much, you not only affectionately referred to him as > "Kenny Boy," you interrupted an important campaign trip in April, 2000, to > fly back to Houston for the Astro's opening day at the new Enron Field -- > just so you could watch Kenny Boy Lay throw out the first pitch. How > sentimental! > > I mean, you loved this man so intensely that, when you were awarded a set > of keys the Supreme Court had made for you so you could live in the White > House, you invited Kenny Boy to set up shop -- at 1600 Pennsylvania > Avenue! He interviewed those who would hold high-level Energy Department > positions in your administration. > > You not only let Kenny Boy decide who would head the regulatory agency > that oversaw Enron, you let him hand-pick the new chairman of the > Securities and Exchange Commission -- a former lawyer for his accountant, > Arthur Andersen! Kenny and the boys at Andersen also worked to make sure > that accounting firms would be exempt from numerous regulations and would > not be held liable for any "funny bookkeeping" (don't you wish you were > this forward-thinking?). > > Then rest of Kenny Boy's time was spent next door with his old buddy, Dick > Cheney (Enron and Halliburton, as you'll recall, got the big contracts > from your dad to "rebuild" Kuwait after the Gulf War). Lay and Dick formed > an "energy task force" (Operation Enduring Graft) which put together the > county's new "energy policy." This policy then went on to shut down every > light bulb and juicer in the state of California. And guess who made out > like bandits while "trading" the energy California was in desperate need > of? Kenny Boy and Enron! No wonder Big Dick doesn't want to turn over the > files about those special meetings with Lay! > > The only thing that surprises me more than all the Enron henchmen who > ended up in your cabinet and administration is how our lazy media just > rolled over and didn't report it. The list of Enron people on your payroll > is impressive. Lawrence Lindsey, your chief economic advisor? A former > advisor at Enron! Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill? Former CEO of Alcoa, > whose lobbying firm, Vinson and Elkins, was the #3 contributor to the your > campaign! Who is Vinson and Elkins? The law firm representing Enron! Who > is Alcoa? The top polluter in Texas. Timothy White, the Secretary of the > Army? A former vice-chair of Enron Energy! Robert Zoellick, your Federal > Trade Representative? A former advisor at Enron! Karl Rove, your main man > at the White House? He owned a quarter-million dollars of Enron stock. > > Then there's the Enron lawyer you have nominated to be a federal judge in > Texas, the Enron lobbyist who is your chair of the Republican Party, the > two Enron officials who now work for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and > the wife of Texas Senator Phil Gramm who sits on Enron's board. And > there's the aforementioned Mr. Pitt, the former Arthur Andersen attorney > whose job it is now as SEC head to oversee the stock markets. George, it > never stops! My fingers are getting tired typing all this up -- and > there's lots more. > > Don't get me wrong, George -- I do not think you're an evil man. You > don't need any crap from people like me -- heck, you got mother-in-law > problems! Now, I have a very good relationship with my mother-in-law, but > then, I never told her to put $8,000 of her money into a company my > administration knew was going belly-up. > > You say you didn't know? Your bag man -- Don Evans, the man who squeezed > all that money for you from Enron as your campaign finance chairman (and > is now collecting his reward as your Commerce Secretary) -- has admitted > that he got calls from Enron begging for help last year because they were > going under. Didn't he tell you this? > > Then Paul O'Neill, your Treasury Secretary, admitted that Enron and Kenny > Boy called him, too, for some special favors to save Enron. Didn't he > mention this to you? They claim to have called your chief of staff, Andrew > Card, and he said he didn't bother to inform you. What does your > mother-in-law think about these boys her daughter's husband consorts with? > > I love watching the O'Neill and Evans show. What a couple of cut-ups! > They're, like, all proud of themselves for "not doing Enron any favors." > Actually, I think it's more like they didn't do your MOTHER-IN-LAW any > favors. Enron got LOTS of favors. And why not? Kenny Boy has been your > number one financial backer since you ran for governor. No other American > or Saudi has given you more money than Kenny Boy and his gang at Enron. > O'Neill, Evans, Cheney, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham -- ALL of them > gave Lay and Enron special favors from day one. The New York Times last > May was so concerned about how Kenny had the run of the place (1600 > Pennsylvania Ave.), they referred to Lay as the "shadow advisor to the > president." > > And what advice! Who was it that wanted you to deregulate the energy > industry further? Kenny Boy! Who was it that convinced you to explore the > sick idea of PRIVATIZING our water supply and then allow private > corporations to "trade" it in the future? Kenny Boy! Who was it that > wanted Social Security to be tied to the stock market? Yup, Kenny Boy! > (Imagine, if you will, what would have happened to our precious Social > Security funds had they been invested in Enron stocks as you, George, > suggested be done during your campaign as yuppies everywhere clucked along > in agreement over that genius idea.) > > O'Neill's and Evans's admission that they "did nothing" when Enron told > them of the company's shell game and impending collapse is reason enough > for you and yours to hit the Beltway and never return to that sacred trust > we call Our American Government. They are proud of "doing nothing?" By > doing nothing, millions of Americans have been swindled. Tens of thousands > have lost their jobs. Thousands more have lost their savings and their > retirement. Yet your cabinet secretaries gloat over what a "good job" you > and they did by "doing nothing." > > Let me ask you this: If someone was setting a house on fire, and they > called you to help them set it on fire, and you said no you wouldn't help > them -- BUT then you also DIDN'T call 911 and inform the police that > someone was going to burn down a house, do you think you would have > committed a crime? > > Of course you would have! You had prior knowledge and then you knowingly > and purposefully HID this information from the authorities and the people > living in the house! You only admitted that you knew a house was going to > be torched when you were confronted by the police. Are you complicit? Yes! > Are you an accessory? Yes! Who would even think of going around boasting, > "Hey, look what a great guy I am -- a friend of mine told me he was going > to commit an act of arson, and then I decided NOT to tell ANYONE about > it!! WHOO-HOO!!" > > Enron and Kenny Boy bought your silence and the silence of your cabinet > members. You yourself didn't have to actually raid the 401(k) accounts of > those poor people in Houston (many of whom probably voted for you every > time your name was on a ballot). All you had to do was remain silent, > change the government regulations that let them get away with it, and > install their hand-picked cronies to sit on the "oversight" boards which > were supposed to be keeping an eye on them. > > While doing all this, you told the American people that these rich friends > of yours were not getting any special breaks -- when, in fact, Enron had > already scammed their way out of paying NO taxes in four out of the last > five years. Your economic "stimulus" bill that you got the House to pass > after 9-11 had a section that would give Enron a gift of $250 million of > our tax money. You were pushing this bill in November and December, long > after your administration knew that Enron was raiding the vault and > screwing its workers and investors. > > You and your Republican friends are quick to point out that Enron had > their claws into the Democrats as well. Yes, they did, and thank you for > making the case why we not only need an alternative to the current make-up > of the Democratic Party, we need private money removed from our electoral > process ASAP. > > But, George, let's be real -- the Democrats only got a pittance from Enron > compared to the millions you and the Republicans received. Democrats just > don't have the killer instinct to do anything right, and they certainly > don't know much about making money the old-fashioned way, one off-shore > tax shelter at a time. I would expect nothing less from a Party that > couldn't even put their candidate in the White House after he had already > won the election. > > The Democrats are like a Yugo -- you know it won't last long or work well, > but it will occasionally get the job done. Fat cats know they can buy the > Democrats at discount prices, and so they do. Anyone who tries to deflect > this scandal away from you, George, or away from the Republicans, or away > from the whole dirty way we elect our leaders, is someone who is > desperately trying to cling to what's left of a very crooked system that > has to go and go now. > > The saddest part of this whole affair was the day the scandal was revealed > -- and you denied that you even knew your good friend, Kenneth Lay. "Ken > who?" you said. Oh, he's just some businessman from Texas. "Heck, he > backed my opponent for governor, Ann Richards!" was your way of trying to > deflect the truth that was hitting you like a Mack truck. You knew that > he, in fact, endorsed YOU and gave you THREE times the money Ann Richards > ever saw from him. > > I hardly ever talk to the guy, you said. You were like Peter in the Garden > of Gethsemane, denying he knew Jesus, three times. And then the cock > crowed. And Peter felt shame and ran away. > > What shame do you feel tonight, George, for the lies you have told? What > shame do you feel using the dead of 9-11 as a cover for your actions, > hoping that our sorrow for those lost souls and our fear of being killed > by terrorists would distract us from what your boys and Kenny Boy were up > to during those horrific weeks in September and October? > > It was during those very days, while the rest of us were in shock and > sadness, that the executives at Enron were selling off their stock and > shifting assets to their 900 phony partnerships overseas. Did they notice > the remains of the dead being pulled from the rubble while they were > downloading their millions, or were their eyes glued only to the bottom > third of the TV screen as the stock ticker with the rigged Enron price > crawled across the images of firemen desperate, in tears, to find their > fallen brothers? > > The country was behind you when you said you were fighting the evildoers > who did this. In fact, all the while, the real fight your friends at Enron > were conducting was the fight against the clock, to see how fast they > could transfer all the loot to their personal accounts and run away. > Those were the evildoers, George, and you knew it. And because you, by > design or negligence, allowed this to happen, it is time for you to > resign. The cock has crowed for the last time. > > At the very least, your mother-in-law deserves better. > > Yours, > > Michael Moore > American > Son-in-law > Owner of 7th LARGEST COMPANY IN AMERICA! (revised ranking) > www.michaelmoore.com > mmflint at aol.com > > # distributed via : no commercial use without permission > # is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: majordomo at bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime at bbs.thing.net From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Wed Feb 6 03:05:41 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 05:05:41 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Thu., Feb. 14: Ikechukwu Okafor-Newsum on Frantz Fanon Message-ID: Critical Perspectives on Wars, Classes, & Empires Teach-in: "Against the Empire: Frantz Fanon & Pan-Africanism" Speaker: Ikechukwu Okafor-Newsum Date: Thursday, February 14 Time: 5:00 p.m. Location: 115 Stillman, OSU 1947 College Rd., Columbus, OH About the Speaker: Ikechukwu Okafor-Newsum is a professor of literature and political economy in the African-American and African Studies at the Ohio State University. (Dr. Newsum is adjunct associate professor in the Department of English and faculty associate in the Centers for African Studies and Folklore Studies and in the Department of Women's Studies at the Ohio State University as well.) His publications include _Class, Language and Education: Class Struggle and Sociolinguistics in an African Situation_ (1990), _The Use of English_ (with Adebisi Afolayan, 1983), and _United States Foreign Policy Towards Southern Africa: Andrew Young and Beyond_ (with Olayiwola Abegunrin, 1987). He serves as the principal editor of _Working Papers: The Black Woman, Challenges and Prospects for the Future_ (with Carlene Herb Young et al, 1991). His work as a visual artist has been widely acclaimed. *** Devastating critique of the violence of colonialism. Searching examination of the master-slave dialectic. Fierce commitment to anti-colonial struggles. Prophetic analysis of the pitfalls of national consciousness. The revolutionary theory and practice of Frantz Fanon constitute an essential part of the rich and complex political and intellectual legacies of the Left that we seek to reclaim today, as we confront both explicit and implicit calls for a "new colonialism" -- a "humanitarian imperialism" -- issued by liberals and conservatives alike. *** Cf. Frantz Fanon on the Net: . Sponsors: the Student International Forum and Social Welfare Action Alliance. OSU Campus map: . For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at or 614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at or 614-292-7181. The flyer for the teach-in is available at . The flyer for other upcoming SIF/SWAA events is available at . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From sipila at kominf.pp.fi Wed Feb 6 03:36:22 2002 From: sipila at kominf.pp.fi (sipila at kominf.pp.fi) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 12:36:22 +0200 Subject: [R-G] Today=?ISO-8859-1?B?tA==?=s World In-Reply-To: Message-ID: KOMINFORM: Today?s world. THE MEDIA AND SO-CALLED PUBLIC OPINION HAVE FORMED CERTAIN KIND OF A PICTURE OF THE WORLD. IT IS NOT NECESSARILY THE RIGHT ONE. The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and their consequences have changed the world. The world will never be like it was before. Now especially it is important to have as true picture as possible of the contemporary political, economic and military processes going on in the world. Stopping the injustice against the Third World would have been the only way to avoid much violence. The incidents in the USA reflect deadlock connected with the contradictory situation between industrialized countries and the third world, whoever is responsible for the attack. For the present, the world has been constructed on the basis of a capitalist force in trade and in politics. Now this way has come to its end. Instead of using intelligence, global capitalism resorts to its last means, war. In the war, "fight against terrorism" is, in the first place, only a cover story. Yet in this situation this buzz-phrase has been an easy pretext for further violence. The war is being launched by industrialized countries against the Third World. With this motion, global capitalism continues its efforts to take by force the world's raw material and marketing areas under its own centralized control. The victim was at this time Afghanistan. Currently, in America, if you disagree with official anti-terrorist policy, you are considered "helping the terrorists win". This notion is even brought to light for those that fail to consume. Official government and corporate (the same?) forces "encourage" people in America to continue spending freely, because otherwise, you are also "letting the terrorists win". An idea to defeat terrorism by state terrorism does not make sense. However, political decision-makers and the corporate media seem to believe in that kind of absurdity. Ordinary citizens are more honest and have more common sense to avoid this mistake. Yet people of the world usually do not have real political power any more. Capitalist politics and power mass media intend to label all peoples' and NGO?s resistance and defence against capitalism?s cruelty "terrorism" in order to justify harsh violence. In this way we are heading to global fascism never seen before. Different ethnic groups, communists and socialists are, at this very moment, targets of violent governmental and paramilitaries? attacks in a big part of the world, instance in Western Europe obviously. The trend is now to label political activities against capitalism "terrorism" or otherwise to deny ideological oppositions by legislative measures. Capitalism's death struggle has caused and will cause large sufferings to mankind. The attack on Afghanistan will no doubt cause counter-attacks all around the world. The lackeys of capitalism do their best to distort our picture of the world. Granting the Nobel peace prize to the UN and its general secretary after the UN?s approval of beginning of large war in Asia seems tragic-comical. September 11th 2001 was a turning point in mankind?s history. Quite obviously it means beginning of final destruction of global capitalism. However, the contemporary violent anger-based processes against imperialism and capitalism are mostly spontaneous. The Marxist science has anticipated this situation. The world?s progressive powers, communist and socialist parties and groups, are working by many different means to build a world without fatal economic and political contradictions. The mainstream mass media and many official sources have recently tried to create an idea of an "international community" which leads mankind to peace and stability. The truth could not be more opposite. The class- and geopolitical contradictions are reaching an acute state. The incidents of autumn 2001 have caused confusion and fear, which are convenient for these mistaken images. In the end of 2001 and in 2002 both Arab and communist mass media systems have been systematically disturbed. TV and radio stations, e-mail lists and web-sites have been sabotaged. E-mail boxes of communist parties have been blocked up. These actions are done in the name of "protecting democracy". It is hard for the ordinary citizen to go against something that he or she is told is an "enemy of democracy". Remember, if you don't agree 100 percent with the policies of the industrialist/capitalist dominated world, you are "helping the terrorists win". Persecution in the name of "protecting freedom" has long been a powerful tool. The history-minded will remember the Nazi anti-terror "freedom protection" laws of 1934 and 1936. The truth is additionally distorted by the power media by creating an image of religious contradictions of the world between Christianity and Islam. Islamic countries? propaganda supports this mistaken impression. In the real world the truth is much more brutal. The main issues are problems of capitalism, marketing areas, oil and other natural riches, and the true political aims of capitalism. The imperialist character of the war, began by the US/UK -alliance against an independent country, soon became evident. Occupying the sovereign nation of Afghanistan and establishing missile bases there to threaten all of Asia gives a true idea of the character of the aggressions. Accordingly, the world wakes up to reality and 9/11 has been found nothing but a pretext for imperialist aggressions that create profits for the rich, hidden behind veiled slogans and lies. Not even the false goals set by the attackers have been reached. Terrorism will not be defeated this way. The operation has caused in Afghanistan a civil war, disorder, and enormous human sufferings. The real aim of imperialism was to start a massive war in order to save world capitalism. Fortunately, this plan has obviously failed. However, there is a possibility the process will continue further, to war between India and Pakistan. In the beginning of 2002 the US has plans for military strikes against several countries of the Third World. Hence 9/11 appears self-evidently nothing but a pretext for a large imperialist war in the struggle between world?s rich and poor countries. The US president has informed that the "war against terrorism" will last for years. Surely the war will be long. US-led global capitalism intends, as it always has, to destroy worldwide anti-capitalist opposition, only now the pretext exists. The idea is as brilliant as Don Quijote?s struggle against windmills. In 2002 the US idea "Axis of Evil" in its total absurdity refers to a psychiatric illness. KOMINFORM Worldwide distribution _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: kominform2 at yahoogroups.com subscribe: kominform2-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Geopolitical news: anti-imperialism at yahoogroups.com subscribe: anti-imperialism-subscribe at yahoogroups.com __________________________________________________ From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Wed Feb 6 04:17:45 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 06:17:45 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Tue., Feb. 19: _Children of the Camps_ (Panel Discussion after the Screening) Message-ID: Progressive Film Series: Critical Perspectives on Wars, Classes, & Empires Screening: _Children of the Camps_ Dir. Stephen Holsapple/Project Dir. Satsuki Ina, 1999 Date: Tuesday, February 19 Time: 7:30 p.m. (Refreshments Provided) Location: 264 MacQuigg Lab, OSU 105 W. Woodruff Ave., Columbus, OH More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned behind barbed wire during World War II . . . over half were children. The documentary _Children of the Camps_ captures the experiences of six Americans of Japanese ancestry who were confined as children to internment camps by the U.S. government during World War II. The film vividly portrays their personal journey to heal the deep wounds they suffered from this experience. "I remember the soldiers marching us to the Army tank and I looked at their rifles and I was just terrified because I could see this long knife at the end?" (_Children of the Camps_). Dr. Judy Tzu-Chun Wu (OSU Dept. of History) will introduce the documentary, and a panel discussion with internment survivors will follow the screening. Sponsors: the Student International Forum and Social Welfare Action Alliance. Co-sponsor: Asian American Student Services. OSU campus map: . For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at or 614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at or 614-292-7181. The flyer for the event is available at . The flyer for other upcoming SIF/SWAA events is available at . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From cbcox at ilstu.edu Wed Feb 6 09:46:30 2002 From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 10:46:30 -0600 Subject: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Today=B4s?= World References: Message-ID: <3C615DE6.A17A28E4@ilstu.edu> sipila at kominf.pp.fi wrote: > > KOMINFORM: Today?s world. > > THE MEDIA AND SO-CALLED PUBLIC OPINION HAVE FORMED CERTAIN KIND OF A PICTURE > OF THE WORLD. IT IS NOT NECESSARILY THE RIGHT ONE. > > The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and their consequences > have changed the world. The world will never be like it was before. This is simply untrue. The world it is the old world yet, and 911 changed it no more than any other single event. The last time the world _really_ changed was either August 1914 or October 1917. This mantra about how the world has changed provides cheap headlines and clutters thought. Carrol From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 6 16:39:26 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 15:39:26 PST Subject: [R-G] Powell Faults Venezuela's Leftist Leader - NYT Message-ID: <200202062339.g16NdQB07555@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 6 16:40:20 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 15:40:20 PST Subject: [R-G] Israel must end the Occupation - CounterPunch Message-ID: <200202062340.g16NeKB08555@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 6 16:41:15 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 15:41:15 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush got carried away with Axis of Evil imagery - Vancouver Sun Message-ID: <200202062341.g16NfFB09695@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 6 16:42:08 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 15:42:08 PST Subject: [R-G] A buildup in search of an enemy - Boston Globe Message-ID: <200202062342.g16Ng8B10462@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 6 16:38:16 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 15:38:16 PST Subject: [R-G] Synthetic insulin blamed for hundreds of adverse reactions and eight deaths - CP Message-ID: <200202062338.g16NcIB06352@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From nick at faunusherbs.com Wed Feb 6 15:51:25 2002 From: nick at faunusherbs.com (Nick Morcinek) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 17:51:25 -0500 Subject: [R-G] GM Foods Problems [NEWS] Message-ID: <009b01c1af69$162b2e00$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> BARRY COMMONER REVEALS CRITICAL SCIENTIFIC FLAW IN GENETIC ENGINEERING, CHALLENGES SAFETY OF GE FOOD REUTERS: A study released [January 15] reveals a critical, long-overlooked flaw in the science behind the multi-billion dollar genetic engineering industry, raising serious questions about the safety of genetically engineered foods. In a new review of scientific literature reported in the February issue of Harper's Magazine, Dr. Barry Commoner, a prominent biologist demonstrates that the bioengineering industry, which now accounts for 25-50% of the U.S. corn and soybean crop, relies on a 40-year-old theory that DNA genes are in total control of inheritance in all forms of life. According to this theory -- the "central dogma" -- the outcome of transferring a gene from one organism to another is always "specific, precise and predictable," and therefore safe. Taking issue with this view, Commoner summarizes a series of scientific reports that directly contradict the established theory. For example, last year the $3 billion Human Genome Project found there are too few human genes to account for the vast inherited differences between people and lower animals or plants, indicating that agents other than DNA must contribute to genetic complexity. The central dogma claims a one-to-one correspondence between a gene's chemical composition and the structure of the particular protein that engenders an inherited trait. But Dr. Commoner notes that under the influence of specialized proteins that carry out "alternative splicing," a single gene can give rise to a variety of different proteins, resulting in more than a single inherited trait per gene. As a result, the gene's effect on inheritance cannot be predicted simply from its chemical composition -- frustrating one of the main purposes of both the Human Genome Project and biotechnology. Commoner's research sounds a public alarm concerning the processes by which agricultural biotechnology companies genetically modify food crops. Scientists simply assume the genes they insert into these plants always produce only the desired effect with no other impact on the plant's genetics. However, recent studies show that the plant's own genes can be disrupted in transgenic plants. Such outcomes are undetected because there is little or no governmental regulation of the industry. "Genetically engineered crops represent a huge uncontrolled experiment whose outcome is inherently unpredictable," Commoner concludes. "The results could be catastrophic." Dr. Commoner cites a number of recent studies that have broken the DNA gene's exclusive franchise on the molecular explanation of inheritance. He warns that "experimental data, shorn of dogmatic theories, point to the irreducible complexity of the living cell, which suggests that any artificially altered genetic system must sooner or later give rise to unintended, potentially disastrous consequences." Commoner charges that the central dogma, a seductively simple explanation of heredity, has led most molecular geneticists to believe it was "too good not to be true." As a result, the central dogma has been immune to the revisions called for by the growing array of contradictory data, allowing the biotechnology industry to unwittingly impose massive, scientifically unsound practices on agriculture. From nick at faunusherbs.com Wed Feb 6 15:53:46 2002 From: nick at faunusherbs.com (Nick Morcinek) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 17:53:46 -0500 Subject: [R-G] UK Food and Environment Costs [NEWS] Message-ID: <009c01c1af69$18e3e560$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> REPORT TERMS UK CURRENT FOOD POLICY "NEITHER EFFICIENT NOR DELIVERING GOOD HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH" CENTRE FOR FOOD POLICY, THAMES VALLEY UNIVERSITY: Food policy has been in crisis because of health and unless the government addresses that health crisis, farming and food will continue to cause political problems says a [recently published] Report. Written for public and environmental health organizations, it paints a damning picture of current food and farming. "Current policy is neither efficient nor delivering good human and environmental health," say the report's editors. "The Government has a golden opportunity to change tack." The costs of coronary vascular disease alone are around ?10 billion a year. Rising obesity in England suggests that the cost of such diet-related diseases will rise. These fall on the NHS, industry and society generally. These recurring annual costs dwarf the ?4bn for BSE and ?2.7bn for Foot and Mouth disease. Current food policy is dominated by concerns about food safety yet food poisoning costs less than ?1 bn a year. The 59 page report "Why Health" is the key for the future of farming and food provides a wealth of facts and figures about the health dimension of current policy: * While obesity rises, retail planning makes it hard to walk or bike to the shops; the number of people walking to shops is dropping dramatically; * The cost of buying a healthier rather than less healthy basket of foods has now risen to 51%; * One in five children eat no fruit in a week and three in five eat no leafy green vegetables; * While the government wants consumers to eat more fruit and vegetables, on current trends health targets will only be met in 2047; * And even if fruit & vegetable targets were met, on current farming practices, the import bill would merely rise. The report shows that fruit & vegetable imports account for over 40% of the current trade gap; * The food industry spends nearly ?0.5bn a year, much of it on sweet, fatty foods; ?70 million a year went on biscuits, cakes and dairy products but only ?3.5 on fruit. "The current import-export trade policy isn't working and is ecologically inappropriate" say the editors. The rise of food miles (distance traveled by food) relies on non-renewable energy. "Why are we importing apples and pears when we have a perfect climate for them?" asks the report. "Why Health" is the key for the future of farming and food is published as the Policy Commission on the Future of Farming and Food prepares to publish its Report on 29th January. The government appointed the Policy Commission in August "to advise the Government on how we can create a sustainable, competitive and diverse farming and food sector which contributes to a thriving and sustainable rural economy, advances environmental, economic, health and animal welfare goals, and is consistent with the Government's aims for CAP reform, enlargement of the EU and increased trade liberalization." According to Prof. Tim Lang and Dr Geof Rayner, the editors of "Why Health" is the key for the future of farming and food, "health is often an afterthought in policy decisions in farming and food when it should be central. Poor nutrition is a major explanation for the UK's health inequalities. National health priorities must be reflected priorities for the farming and food sectors." The Report argues that there should be a new set of national principles and strategies for farming and food policy: * Farming and food should give equal weight to both human and environmental health. * Policy and practice should encourage diversity of foods and biodiversity in fields. * The food supply chain should decrease its reliance on non-renewable energy. * Food costs should more fully reflect their real costs of production, distribution and mal-consumption. * Geo-spatial planning --- particularly for retailing and transport --- should facilitate physical activity in line with national health strategies and to reduce social exclusion. * Food supply chains should be as local and as short as possible. * Encouragement should be given to local food providers and suppliers to rebuild local economies. * A reduction of diet-related inequalities to tackle social exclusion and poor access should be at the heart of farming and food systems. The report provides five pages of recommendations and argues that the Government needs to set out a new framework. "The entire food supply chain needs new guidance. For government to reiterate a faith in the market misses the point. The issues are: what sort of market? Meeting which social and health objectives? From which food sector? With what evidence? We hope our report helps set the new debate on a proper evidential basis" say Drs Lang and Rayner. "Whatever the Policy Commission comes up with, the Government will be judged by health goals. It is time that the food supply chain stopped passing the costs of ill-health onto society." From nick at faunusherbs.com Wed Feb 6 15:56:14 2002 From: nick at faunusherbs.com (Nick Morcinek) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 17:56:14 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Banned Pesticide Exports Increase Sustantially - Cancer Rates Up?? [NEWS] Message-ID: <009d01c1af69$1bb6b470$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> CHEMICAL POISON EXPORTS ABOARD INCREASE IN 1997-2000 BY 15% FROM 1992-1996, INCLUDING 65 MILLION PDS. OF U.S. BANNED POISONS PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK UPDATES SERVICE: Nearly 3.2 billion pounds of pesticide products were exported from U.S. ports between 1997 and 2000, according to a Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE) analysis of Customs records recently published in the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH). This average rate of almost 2.2 million pounds per day --- or 45 tons per hour --- represents a 15% increase over the rate of 936 tons per day documented for the years 1992-1996. Nearly 65 million pounds of pesticides were exported between 1997 and 2000 that are banned or severely restricted in the United States, an average of more than 22 tons per day. Although no exports of banned products were recorded for the year 2000, shipments of several banned pesticides -- including captafol, chlordane, isazofos, monocrotophos and mirex --- were noted between 1997 and 1999. Fifty-seven percent of these products were shipped to destinations in the developing world and almost half of the remaining 43% were shipped to ports in Belgium and the Netherlands, with possible final destinations in developing countries. "Pesticide poisoning has long been a problem in developing countries," said Joe LaDou, the editor of IJOEH. Dr. LaDou solicited a series of papers on international pesticide use and integrated pest management (IPM) that will fill three volumes of the journal. "These researchers and public policy experts have revealed that the problem of international pesticide use has greater dimensions than most public health and public policy experts recognize. There is an urgent need for greater attention to these issues, and increased funding for research into occupational and environmental health effects," LaDou commented. The FASE export report is the latest in an ongoing series that the foundation has published since 1990. Among the other findings: * In the four-year period studied, at least 89 million pounds of pesticides were exported that have been designated "extremely hazardous" by the World Health Organization, an average rate of more than 30 tons per day. Exports of EPA "Class I," or highly toxic, products totaled over 140 million pounds between 1997 and 2000, or an average rate of just over two tons per hour. * Products that have never been registered in the U.S. were exported at an average rate of at least 16 tons per day during the four years examined, with the total for such products possibly being much larger. The largest volume never-registered chemicals were butachlor (nearly 14 million pounds total) and carbosulfan (10.2 million pounds). * Total exports of "restricted use" pesticides --- those that may only be purchased and used by state-certified applicators in the U.S. but that are often available to the general public in developing countries --- exceeded 284 million pounds over the four-year period examined, an average rate of four tons per hour. Although exports of such pesticides totaled more than six million pounds less in 2000 than in 1997, the export of the ozone-depleting chemical methyl bromide was 68% higher in 2000 than four years earlier. * Nearly 1.1 billion pounds of pesticides were exported that have been identified as known or suspected carcinogens, an average rate of almost 16 tons per hour. FASE gathered the data using commercial transcriptions of U.S. Customs records of shipments from U.S. Ports. Although this is the most comprehensive source of export information available in the public record, FASE emphasizes that it remains only a partial source of production and trade information since many details are protected as "confidential business information." The paper's recommendations for decreasing pesticide use include prohibiting the export of banned or never registered pesticides from the U.S.; empowering the EPA to evaluate fully the hazards posed by pesticides leaving the U.S. and giving the agency the authority to act on its findings; and improving the quality and quantity of information regarding pesticide production, trade and use and putting the information in the public record. "The fact that no banned products were exported in 2000 seems to indicate that recent international efforts such as the PIC (Prior Informed Consent) and POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) treaties are making a difference," said FASE Vice President Carl Smith, who authored the IJOEH paper. "But exports of products that cannot be safely used in developing countries remain unacceptably high. There can be no double standard for protecting health and the environment." Source: Excerpted from a paper originally published in International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (Vol. 7, No. 4). The next two issues in IJOEH's Special Series will present the health effects of international pesticide use (Vol. 8, No. 1, available late January 2002) and IPM in developing countries (Vol. 8, No. 3, available August 2002). Contact IJOEH, 210 South 13th Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107; phone (800) 962-1892 (U.S. only) or (215) 546-4995; fax (215) 790-9330; email custserv at hanleyandbelfus.com; Web site http://www.hanleyandbelfus.com. From nick at faunusherbs.com Wed Feb 6 16:49:03 2002 From: nick at faunusherbs.com (Nick Morcinek) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 18:49:03 -0500 Subject: [R-G] STERILE HARVEST - NEW CROP OF TERMINATOR PATENTS THREATENS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY Message-ID: <00a101c1af69$256e5860$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> Of interest to all I hope... Nicholas ---------- Forwarded message ---------- News Release: 31 January 2002 www.etcgroup.org STERILE HARVEST: NEW CROP OF TERMINATOR PATENTS THREATENS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY The World's Largest Agrochemical and Seed Enterprises --Syngenta & DuPont -- Win Two New Patents on Genetic Seed Sterilization The ETC group (formerly RAFI) announced today that the biotechnology industry continues to aggressively pursue the development of genetically modified seeds that are engineered for sterility. "We have uncovered two new patents on Terminator technology," said Hope Shand, Research Director of ETC group. "One patent is held by Dupont (the world's largest seed corporation) and the other is held by Syngenta (the world's largest agrochemical corporation)," said Shand. Terminator has been widely condemned as an immoral technology that threatens global food security, especially for the 1.4 billion people who depend on farm-saved seed. If commercialized, the technology will prevent farmers from saving seed from their harvest for planting the following season. In 1999, due to widespread public opposition to Terminator seeds, both Monsanto (soon-to-be-spun-off by Pharmacia) and AstraZeneca (now Syngenta) publicly vowed not to commercialize genetic seed sterilization technology.#1 "Contrary to what some of these companies have pledged in the past, the Gene Giants are refining the technology and moving forward to commercialize Terminator seeds," warns Hope Shand, Research Director of the ETC group. "Terminator is a real and present danger for global food security and biodiversity - governments and civil society cannot afford to let 'suicide seeds' slip beneath their radar," said Shand. Syngenta, the world's largest agribusiness firm, holds the largest arsenal of Terminator patents to date.#2 In 1999, Zeneca's R&D director wrote that Terminator was "one piece of technology we did not want to take forward, and the project was stopped in 1992.#3 Why, then, has the company continued to file for and win Terminator patents since 1992? (The newest Syngenta patent issued on May 8, 2001. The application date was March 22, 1997, long after Zeneca claims it stopped the project.) "Obviously, we can't rely on the goodwill of multinational seed and agrochemical corporations to safeguard the public from the threat of Terminator seeds. If these companies are serious about abandoning the X-Mozilla-Status: 0009ld surrender their patents to the control of the UN Food & Agriculture Organization, agreeing not to develop the technology themselves, nor allow others access to their technologies," advised Julie Delahanty. TWO NEW TERMINATOR PATENTS: Dupont (Pioneer Hi-Bred International), US Patent 6,297,426, issued October 2, 2001. Title: METHODS OF MEDIATING FEMALE FERTILITY IN PLANTS. The patent describes the identification and inactivation of a native gene critical to female fertility. The gene is cloned, linked to an inducible promoter and inserted into the plant. The result is a plant that is functionally female sterile with inducible female fertility. (Note: Although the patent describes the use of this technology for facilitating production of hybrid seed, this approach involves chemical control of female fertility, and its extension to other seed lines. ETC group considers this a Terminator-type technology.) Syngenta (Zeneca), US Patent 6,228,643, issued May 8, 2001. Title: PROMOTER. The patent describes a new promoter, isolated fromrapeseed, and the control of plant traits (including fertility) that can be inactivated and restored by application of a chemical inducer. In one embodiment, the seeds will not germinate unless sprayed with a chemical inducer. INDUSTRY'S "GREEN GENE" DEFENSE OF TERMINATOR: The new Syngenta patent does not describe its technology as a method to prevent farmers from saving seed, but as an approach to prevent unwanted gene flow from transgenic varieties. In theory, any seed that goes where it shouldn't would die without the application of a chemical inducer. According to the patent: "A problem addressed by the present invention is the containment of crop plants within the area of cultivation. Seeds of cultivated crop plants may be conveyed outside the defined growing area by a number of routes (by birds or small mammals or simply by being dropped during post-harvest transport of a seed crop) where they assume the status of weeds, or they may remain as volunteers in a subsequent crop in later years...It will be appreciated that the problems of crop non-confinement mentioned above become more acute where transgenic crops are involved... Ways to reduce viability of such hybrids would limit the risk of transgene escape to non-crop species thus avoiding the spreading of plants with enhanced invasiveness or weediness." -US patent 6,228,643 It is irresponsible and unacceptable to suggest that society must accept genetic seed sterilization as a method for solving industry's genetic pollution problem. Food security for poor people must not be sacrificed to gain commercial acceptance for an unsafe and unproven technology. The biotech industry is reeling from the most recent debacles involving GM pollution from transgenic plants. The Mexican Ministry of Environment confirmed again last week that indigenous farmers' maize varieties in Oaxaca and Puebla have been contaminated with DNA from genetically modified (GM) maize. It is illegal to grow GM maize in Mexico precisely because of the potential threat to the world's primary center of maize diversity. In Canada, the escape of transgenes from GM canola is a menace for organic farmers who cannot certify their canola crops as GM-free. On January 10, 2002 organic farmers in Saskatchewan filed a class action suit against Aventis and Monsanto. "It is particularly alarming that the Gene Giants (and some governments) are promoting Terminator under the guise of biosafety," explains Julie Delahanty of ETC group. "The industry's primary goal is to gain market acceptance for seed sterility as a biosafety tool, which will then give them carte blanche to use it as a monopoly tool for maximizing seed industry profits," said Delahanty. TERMINATOR ON THE ROAD TO RIO+10: New Terminator patents underscore industry's ongoing investment in the goal of genetic seed sterilization and the urgent need for governments to ban these technologies before they are commercialized. Terminator is on the agenda this week at meetings in New York City, Porto Alegre and Montreal. ETC group, together with civil society organizations and governments, will hold briefings on the issue at the Rio+10 PrepCom in New York, at the World Social Forum in Brazil, and in Montreal at an informal consultation on the impacts of Terminator on local communities and Farmers' Rights (held under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity). In the months leading up to Rio+10, intergovernmental organizations have a critical role to play in raising global awareness and recommending actions to ban the technology. COP6 - The Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity meets in The Hague, 8-26 April 2002. After numerous studies on genetic trait control technology, COP6 should ban Terminator as an anti-farmer technology that threatens biodiversity and food sovereignty. World Food Summit Five Years Later: When governments meet 10-13 June 2002 in Rome they should re-affirm the findings of FAO's Panel of Eminent Experts on Ethics, which concluded that Terminator seeds are unethical, and recommend that member nations ban the technology. World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10): Heads of State meeting in South Africa in 26 August- 4 Sept. 2002 will have the opportunity to call for a ban on Terminator technology as an immoral application of genetic engineering that threatens biodiversity and food security. Please go to our web site, www.etcgroup.org, to enter our April Fools' Day contest. We need your help completing the sentence, "Using GM Terminator to halt GM seed contamination is like..." For more information: Julie Delahanty, ETC group: (613) 262-8519 (cell) julie at e... Hope Shand, ETC group: (919) 960-5223 hope at e... Silvia Ribeiro, ETC group: silvia at e... Notes: 1 Pharmacia, which currently owns 85% of Monsanto, will distribute its Monsanto stock to shareholders in second half of 2002. 2 See RAFI/ETC group, "New Terminator Patent Goes to Syngenta," News Release, 12 March 2001. www.etcgroup.org 3 Letter from Dr. D.A. Evans, R&D Director, Zeneca Agrochemicals, to Prof. Richard Jefferson, CAMBIA, Australia, 24 Feb. 1999. The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly RAFI, is an international civil society organization headquartered in Canada. The ETC group (pronounced Etcetera group) is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights. www.etcgroup.org From wmmmandel at earthlink.net Wed Feb 6 16:57:40 2002 From: wmmmandel at earthlink.net (William Mandel) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 15:57:40 -0800 Subject: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Today=B4s?= World References: <3C615DE6.A17A28E4@ilstu.edu> Message-ID: <3C61C2F4.405B6490@earthlink.net> I'm truly curious. You mean that the collapse of the non-capitalist world in 1989-91 did not change the world? William Mandel Carrol Cox wrote: > > sipila at kominf.pp.fi wrote: > > > > KOMINFORM: Today?s world. > > > > THE MEDIA AND SO-CALLED PUBLIC OPINION HAVE FORMED CERTAIN KIND OF A PICTURE > > OF THE WORLD. IT IS NOT NECESSARILY THE RIGHT ONE. > > > > The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and their consequences > > have changed the world. The world will never be like it was before. > > This is simply untrue. The world it is the old world yet, and 911 > changed it no more than any other single event. The last time the world > _really_ changed was either August 1914 or October 1917. > > My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999), was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the American people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious movements: labor, student, peace, civil rights South and North, civil liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee, the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website, http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON PACIFICA), with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist movement, although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife, Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The book is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed copy, send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611 ======================================================== From nick at faunusherbs.com Wed Feb 6 16:54:59 2002 From: nick at faunusherbs.com (Nick Morcinek) Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2002 18:54:59 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Re: Visit to NY economic forum convinces Campbell he's on the right track - Vancouver Sun References: <200202060004.g1604qB13875@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> Message-ID: <013a01c1af73$ec0cdb90$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> This guy Gordon Cambell must have the intellect of an amoeba..... Nicholas ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 7:04 PM Subject: [R-G] Visit to NY economic forum convinces Campbell he's on the right track - Vancouver Sun > > The Vancouver Sun Tuesday, February 5, 2002 > > Premier's message: Be ready for takeoff > > New York visit persuades him he's on right path > > By Jim Beatty > > Victoria -- Premier Gordon Campbell, who returns to B.C. today after a > six-day economic conference in New York, says he won't blame the sagging > world economy for British Columbia's financial woes. > > After rubbing shoulders with the world's presidents, kings and money moguls > at the World Economic Forum, Campbell said the most prudent thing for > British Columbia is to get itself on a strong fiscal footing. > > ''I'm not going to blame the global economy. . . . We're going to have to > get on with setting our economy up so when the global economy takes off, > we're ready to take advantage of it,'' Campbell said in a telephone > interview. > > Campbell was joined by two dozen B.C. business leaders including B.C. Board > of Trade chair Carole Taylor; billionaire entrepreneur Jimmy Pattison; and > London Drugs CEO Brandt Louie. >> From cbcox at ilstu.edu Thu Feb 7 07:06:19 2002 From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 08:06:19 -0600 Subject: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Today=B4s?= World References: <3C615DE6.A17A28E4@ilstu.edu> <3C61C2F4.405B6490@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <3C6289DB.C7CAE90F@ilstu.edu> William Mandel wrote: > > I'm truly curious. You mean that the collapse of the non-capitalist > world in 1989-91 did not change the world? > William Mandel Only Fukuyama and followers believed that collapse changed the world in any permanent way. We still live in the world created by the guns of august and the storming of the winter palace. Those guns ended forever the bourgeois dream of endless progress. The latter (whatever its later defeats and/or betrayals) showed us the future that could arise from the ashes. What has changed? Rosa L "accounmted" for the atomic bomb and ecological crisis (though she knew of neither) when she posited socialism or barbarianism. The world of that stark binary still confronts us. Carrol From sipila at kominf.pp.fi Thu Feb 7 09:38:36 2002 From: sipila at kominf.pp.fi (sipila at kominf.pp.fi) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 18:38:36 +0200 Subject: [R-G] Today=?ISO-8859-1?B?tA==?=s World In-Reply-To: <3C6289DB.C7CAE90F@ilstu.edu> Message-ID: on 7.2.2002 16:06, Carrol Cox at cbcox at ilstu.edu wrote: > > > William Mandel wrote: >> >> I'm truly curious. You mean that the collapse of the non-capitalist >> world in 1989-91 did not change the world? >> William Mandel > > Only Fukuyama and followers believed that collapse changed the world in > any permanent way. We still live in the world created by the guns of > august and the storming of the winter palace. Those guns ended forever > the bourgeois dream of endless progress. The latter (whatever its later > defeats and/or betrayals) showed us the future that could arise from the > ashes. What has changed? Rosa L "accounmted" for the atomic bomb and > ecological crisis (though she knew of neither) when she posited > socialism or barbarianism. The world of that stark binary still > confronts us. > > Carrol Of course, there have been historical milestones 1917 and 1989-91, but the processes are not over... Today we face a new kind of practical situation. However, is there any principal change? The contradictions remain and the contradictionas must be won. The phoenix must arise from the ashes. The bourgeois dream of endless progress (or eternal economic growth) is as unrealistic and absurd as it has always been. Let us put it in this way: The "winter palace" is now in Washington... and even worse, there is in charge a madman who is more dangerous than the czars. The almost unipolar world has obvioulsy been formed around US president, whose aim is evidently not less than to conquer or to subjugate all the world. Principal difference between Mr. Bush and the west-European czar Mr. Hitler is only the size of their playfieds... Hence... there have been large dangers against people and against ecology before. Now heading to global disaster seems to be more actual then ever. Exploiting people and natural riches has no limits... and for those purposes there are the most horrible mass destruction weapons. The message "Today?s world" may have been provocative. Yet it is intended to be a serious warning to all the people in the world. In fact, it was sent to the L-I and R-G lists just for information... the listembers do no doubt understand the main problematics. The total coverage was as big as possible in the contemporary possible e-mail list systems. The danger of worldwide barbarianism is no doubt real... Unless people all around weak up... for socialism and for anti-imperialism. Heikki > > _______________________________________________ > Rad-Green mailing list > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: kominform2 at yahoogroups.com subscribe: kominform2-subscribe at yahoogroups.com Geopolitical news: anti-imperialism at yahoogroups.com subscribe: anti-imperialism-subscribe at yahoogroups.com __________________________________________________ From wmmmandel at earthlink.net Thu Feb 7 12:32:04 2002 From: wmmmandel at earthlink.net (William Mandel) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 11:32:04 -0800 Subject: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Today=B4s?= World References: Message-ID: <3C62D634.7E84A2E1@earthlink.net> The collapse of the Soviet Union (1) created a situation in which a single country, the US, can aspire to rule the world, and (2) in which national-liberation movements are the only ones than can amass mass support, as class struggle for socialism has been abandoned by the working class of the entire world. Bin Laden thinks of himself in religious terms but, exactly as Joan of Arc, who functioned at a time when ideology in Europe still took on primarily religious form as it does in the Mid-East today, he is a defender of the Arab and other Moslem peoples against American imperialism. It is that struggle which will continue until U.S. imperialism is defeated or collapses. One or the other has been the fate of all previous empires. A century? Fifty years? Who knows? William Mandel sipila at kominf.pp.fi wrote: > > on 7.2.2002 16:06, Carrol Cox at cbcox at ilstu.edu wrote: > > > > > > > William Mandel wrote: > >> > >> I'm truly curious. You mean that the collapse of the non-capitalist > >> world in 1989-91 did not change the world? > >> William Mandel > > > >======================================================== My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999), was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the American people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious movements: labor, student, peace, civil rights South and North, civil liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee, the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website, http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON PACIFICA), with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist movement, although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife, Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The book is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed copy, send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611 ======================================================== From lani at dojo.tao.ca Thu Feb 7 13:28:56 2002 From: lani at dojo.tao.ca (lani at dojo.tao.ca) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 20:28:56 -0000 Subject: [R-G] Re: Visit to NY economic forum convinces Campbell he's on the right track - Vancouver Sun In-Reply-To: <013a01c1af73$ec0cdb90$0200000a@HOMECOMPUTER> Message-ID: <20020207202856.9F8A817DC56@dojo.tao.ca> .. and yet they call US dogmatic extremists! -lani. Nick Morcinek said: > This guy Gordon Cambell must have the intellect of an amoeba..... > > Nicholas > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > To: > Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2002 7:04 PM > Subject: [R-G] Visit to NY economic forum convinces Campbell he's on the > right track - Vancouver Sun > > > > > > The Vancouver Sun Tuesday, February 5, 2002 > > > > Premier's message: Be ready for takeoff > > > > New York visit persuades him he's on right path > > > > By Jim Beatty > > > > Victoria -- Premier Gordon Campbell, who returns to B.C. today after a > > six-day economic conference in New York, says he won't blame the sagging > > world economy for British Columbia's financial woes. > > > > After rubbing shoulders with the world's presidents, kings and money > moguls > > at the World Economic Forum, Campbell said the most prudent thing for > > British Columbia is to get itself on a strong fiscal footing. > > > > ''I'm not going to blame the global economy. . . . We're going to have to > > get on with setting our economy up so when the global economy takes off, > > we're ready to take advantage of it,'' Campbell said in a telephone > > interview. > > > > Campbell was joined by two dozen B.C. business leaders including B.C. > Board > > of Trade chair Carole Taylor; billionaire entrepreneur Jimmy Pattison; and > > London Drugs CEO Brandt Louie. > >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Rad-Green mailing list > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green > -- From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Thu Feb 7 12:39:39 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 14:39:39 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Jailed Teen Anarchist's Supporters Accuse FBI Of AIM Hack Message-ID: <012401c1b00f$2e941820$33378d18@Indy1> ----- Original Message ----- From: SO CAL POWER To: cuaf at egroups.com Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2002 2:22 PM Subject: [anarchism] Jailed Teen Anarchist's Supporters Accuse FBI Of AIM Hack this is the 2nd Washington Post Article that has been done on Sherman Austin, whose house was raided by the FBI in LA two weeks ago. His Website Raisthefist.com was also shut down, all of his computer equipment was taken. Sherman was not arrested and went to the WEF protest, there he was picked up by the local police at a protest, held in jail for a night. Sunday night he had his charges dropped and released. At this point the FBI re-arrested him right away and are now holding him on 1 charge of distiributing materials giving info. on how to make bombs and other weapons of mass destruction (FBI is accuing him of having a link on his webpage to a page that somewhere on it had instructions on how to make a Molotov Cocktail) this charge carries a maximum 20 year sentence. His 2nd Charge awas "Posession of a deadly weapon without paying taxes or having it registered" ( the FBI says they found snapple bottles, wicks, fertalizer and duck tape in his room and said that those items could make molotov cocktail. a bomb) this carries a maximum of 10 years. Sherman is still in a Federal Jail in NYC as we speak, he has a hearing today to find out if he will be sent back to CA to face his current Charges. There is a legal fund that is opening for him, if you would like to get involved and help fundraise for his legal team please email LegalFund at onebox.com or call (866) 841-9134 x5489. It does not matter what state you live in or where you are, if you would like to help raise $$ for him to help his family and the legal fund please email LegalFund at onebox.com or call (866) 841-9134 x5489. Someone will get back to you regarding the Legal funds Non-profit status on how you can make a tax free deductable donation. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/174307.html Teen Anarchist's Supporters Accuse FBI Of AIM Hack By Brian McWilliams, Washington Post, Newsbytes LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 07 Feb 2002, 9:04 AM CST The FBI declined to comment Wednesday on allegations that federal agents have commandeered online chat accounts belonging to the teen-aged operator of anti-government site Raisethefist.com. However, the agency denies allegations that it has harassed associates of 18-year-old self-proclaimed anarchist Sherman Martin Austin. According to several of Austin's supporters, someone has repeatedly logged into the teen's accounts on America Online's AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) real-time chat service while he was in police custody. Austin, a resident of Sherman Oaks, Calif., has been incarcerated in a high-security federal jail in Manhattan since Saturday on charges of disorderly conduct following a protest against the World Economic Forum in New York. A friend listed on Austin's AIM Buddy List who identified himself only as "James" said he was threatened Monday by someone he suspects was an FBI agent using Austin's account. "He told me, 'Your ass is next, pal,'" James said. Laura Bosley, a spokesperson for the FBI's Los Angeles field office, declined to say whether the FBI would commandeer someone's AIM account as part of an investigation, citing its ongoing nature. But she said FBI agents would never harass associates of a suspect. Last week, federal agents executed a search warrant at Austin's home and confiscated several computers as well as equipment for making explosives. According to an affidavit, the FBI suspects Austin of hacking into several Web sites to post anarchist messages and using his own site, Raisethefist.com, to publish bomb-making information. Newsbytes independently observed that someone using Austin's AOL screen name "Ucaun" signed on to the service briefly Tuesday night. But that person did not respond to interview requests. Matt Yarborough, head of the cyberlaw section at Fish and Richardson and a former assistant U.S. attorney, said it was "certainly possible" that FBI agents commandeered Austin's AIM accounts as part of their undercover work on the case. "I've dealt with federal agents who did things that made my stomach turn. But, assuming these claims are true, the agents might see this as a good technique for flushing people out," said Yarborough, who noted that Austin may also have been instructed to sign on to his AIM account while in custody. However, Mark Rasch, vice president of cyberlaw at Predictive Systems and a former federal prosecutor, said it was most likely that one of Austin's enemies, and not the FBI, was responsible for hijacking his AIM accounts. "It would be very improbable that even an overzealous agent would do this. It's unfathomable that a court would grant such an order," said Rasch. Susan Tipograph, the attorney representing Austin in New York, said Austin has not spoken to the FBI since being arrested. According to Tipograph, he has been held in a maximum-security cell around the clock and it was impossible that he would have signed on to his account. "He's in the same unit where they held people who bombed the U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. It seems odd to treat an 18-year-old this way," said Tipograph. Austin's political views have made him a target for verbal attack by right-wing extremists, his associates said, but they dismissed suggestions that his accounts may have been compromised by such adversaries. While AIM accounts are password-protected, the technology has been abused in the past by attackers who hijack others' AIM accounts through trickery, Trojan horses, packet-sniffing and other techniques. Matthew Dickinson, a San Diego-based accountant who said he was an online acquaintance of Austin's, reported that the teen told him last autumn that his AIM accounts had been hacked into by law enforcement officials. Dickinson provided a Nov. 10 e-mail message, purportedly from Austin, in which he recounted discovering that one of his AIM screen names was being used by the FBI to harass him. The message included a log file of an AIM session in which someone using Austin's screen name Raisethefist told Austin, "This is a matter of national security, pal. We're tapping all accounts," and, "We're watching you, and packeting you. Warrants are wonderful." AIM log files are simple text documents that can be created or edited using a word processor. As such, their authenticity is difficult to determine. It was not clear whether Austin shared the login information for his AIM account with family members or friends. Austin's mother referred all inquiries to Tipograph, who said she had no information on the matter. If federal agents took over Austin's AIM accounts without his permission, such an action would constitute unauthorized access and be illegal, according to Yarborough. "The government doesn't have the right to hack into someone else's computer. If these allegations are true, it would look bad in court, as if the agents were attempting to intimidate people to disclose information," he said. In an interview with Newsbytes last week over AIM, Austin admitted to defacing several Web sites in the past three years to post messages about overthrowing the U.S. government. One of the defacements included the message: "We don't gather weapons, plan extreme operations, and risk our lives for nothing. This is real." Austin was not charged with any crimes as a result of his arrest in New York, Tipograph said. However, federal charges were filed against him for posting information at his site about making explosives and with possessing a Molotov cocktail, which is considered an "unregistered firearm" by the FBI. No hacking charges have yet been filed against Austin, although Bosley told Newsbytes that additional charges are possible. Raisethefist.com has been unreachable since late last week. Austin's former hosting company, About Web Services, refused to comment on the status of the site, citing the firm's privacy policy. Domain registration records today showed that Raisethefist.com is no longer receiving domain-name service from About Web's Freeservers.com service, and that the domain was transferred to InfoSpace's HyperMart hosting service on Feb. 1. In the interview last week, Austin told Newsbytes that he didn't think 18 was too young to be an anarchist. "Sixteen-year-olds fight in the New Peoples Army in the Philippines," he said. When asked whether he thought it should be illegal to publish bomb-making information, Austin replied that everyone should have a right to distribute such knowledge. "I think it should be illegal for other people to get rich off dropping bombs on poor women and children. I personally would like a society without bombs," he said. According to an FBI affidavit, a search by New York police of Austin's car last weekend uncovered "electrical wiring, electrical tape, one empty gasoline tank, and anarchist literature." Reported by Newsbytes, http://www.newsbytes.com . 09:04 CST Reposted 10:02 CST (20020207/WIRES TOP, ONLINE, LEGAL, PC/FBI/PHOTO) ? 2002 The Washington Post Company From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 7 17:57:34 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 16:57:34 PST Subject: [R-G] France upbraids U.S. as 'simplistic' - IHT Message-ID: <200202080057.g180vYB07276@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 7 17:58:36 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 16:58:36 PST Subject: [R-G] Israeli explusion idea gains steam - CSM Message-ID: <200202080058.g180waB08159@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 7 17:59:24 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 16:59:24 PST Subject: [R-G] British Columbia: Campbell's war - The Economist Message-ID: <200202080059.g180xOB08841@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 7 18:01:20 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 17:01:20 PST Subject: [R-G] Global A-list attack American policies - Daily Telegraph (Sydney) Message-ID: <200202080101.g1811KB10743@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 7 18:00:27 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 17:00:27 PST Subject: [R-G] Enron, deregulation and free trade Message-ID: <200202080100.g1810RB09784@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Thu Feb 7 22:07:28 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 00:07:28 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Tom Ridge to decree fascist regimentation of US government Message-ID: <003c01c1b05e$81873220$33378d18@Indy1> TOM RIDGE TO DECREE FASCIST REGIMENTATION OF US GOVERNMENT "I've got all the authority I need," Ridge said. "I've gotten $38 billion in authority in four months," Ridge said, referring to funds in Bush's budget proposal. "That is not so bad." http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=07022002-032244-4392r http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=131355&group=webcast Hmmmmmm......I wonder why??? Could it have something to do with?...... "Bush asks Daschle to limit investigation into 9.11" http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/index.html From cuito61 at hotmail.com Fri Feb 8 07:13:43 2002 From: cuito61 at hotmail.com (Marco R) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 09:13:43 -0500 Subject: [R-G] God Bless Economic Fascism Message-ID: This is the "democracy" in the name of which they bomb, brutalize, displace, and subjugate millions upon millions of people across the planet: "President Bush's proposed $2.1 trillion budget embraces the word "security" at every turn. It provides more spending for military security and domestic security and more tax cuts for "economic security." But the budget undermines the security of the nation's social safety net and the government's ability to carry out some of its basic responsibilities over the next two decades. It jeopardizes the future of Social Security and Medicare, whose trust funds would be siphoned away to underwrite outmoded military projects and tax reductions favoring the rich. The budget embodies a divisive agenda for which Mr. Bush has no mandate, in spite of his popularity... "One of the many pieces of this budget that the public would never accept if consulted is the harm it does to the future of Medicare and Social Security. When asked yesterday to address charges that the administration was not leaving enough money to keep Medicare and Social Security solvent, Mr. Daniels said both were heading toward insolvency anyway. His policies seemed intent on starving the federal government of money to save them so that they can be "fixed" by privatizing them in ways that favor the well-to-do... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/05/opinion/_05TUE1.html --- "The disappearance of the projected surpluses naturally means the end of suggestions that these funds could be used to ensure the continuity of Social Security and Medicare, the two largest federal entitlement programs, which provide pension income and medical care for the elderly and disabled. "The bulk of the surplus accumulating in Social Security accounts over the next decade will be used to finance general government expenses, and therefore will not be there when the huge post-World War II generation begins to retire. In the current fiscal year, $262 billion in surplus Social Security funds is being used to finance government operations. Next year that figure will be $259 billion... "The cuts in discretionary spending on a variety of social needs will be the largest since the onslaught of the Reagan years. While overall spending is projected to rise 6 percent, nearly all of the increase goes to the Pentagon and to domestic policing in one form or another. Domestic social spending will rise by only 1 percent, less than the rate of inflation, and many programs will suffer severe slashes. Six of the fourteen cabinet departments will see actual spending reductions... "Job training programs will be gutted, with grants to 36 cities for youth job training cut from $225 million to only $45 million. Another $620 million will be cut from grants to states, a reduction that dwarfs the better-publicized increase of $73 million for the Job Corps... http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/feb2002/budg-f08.shtml --- "The first report came at 6:54 a.m. yesterday: A homeless man, cold to the touch, had been found at a bus stop in Northwest Washington. Five more reports soon followed, as District officials grappled with what seems to be an unprecedented number of deaths in the city in a single day due to cold weather. "The dead included four homeless men. In addition, a man and a woman were found separately in their homes, according to Jonathan L. Arden, the District's chief medical examiner. Autopsies have not been completed, but "of the six cases, three of them strongly appear to be due to hypothermia," he said. The other three deaths, including the two people found in their homes, are being investigated to determine whether hypothermia was a factor... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29548-2002Feb5.html --- "A survey of public records and private advocacy groups yields the following financial portrait of the American recession: Number of millionaires: 2.5 million Number of billionaires: 298 Richest family: the Waltons Size of their Walmart fortune: $85 billion Second richest: Bill Gates, $63 billion Annual take for Enron's Ken Lay: $49.8 million Percentage of Americans without pensions: 53 Average percentage lost by a 401(k) last year: 10 Number of people without health care: 43 million Highest-paid CEO: Michael Dell His total annual compensation: $235.9 million Dollar ratio of CEO pay to that of minimum-wage workers: 728:1 People filing for unemployment: 390,000 Number of people who go hungry every day:31 million (including 12 million children) People spending more than half their income for housing: 5.4 million Percentage of people who own their own homes: 68 Number of properties owned by Ken Lay: 18, valued at $30 million http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0206/ridgeway.php --- "The number of Americans with million-dollar incomes more than doubled from 1995 through 1999, as their salaries and their profits from stocks soared, government figures to be published today show. The percentage of their income that went to federal income taxes, however, fell by 11 percent. "The incomes of Americans who made less grew as well, though by far less, and the share of their income that went to taxes rose slightly, according to Internal Revenue Service income tax data for the five years through 1999, the latest year available... "Congress also cut taxes for the middle class, but only one in five taxpayers qualified for those cuts, which involved new tax credits for children and education expenses. So, as a group, the portion of their income going to taxes rose. "For those with million-dollar incomes, the share of their income that went to taxes fell to 27.9 percent in 1999, from 31.4 percent in 1995... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/07/business/07TAX.html --- "In recent years, corporate America has become something of a private bank for its senior executives, who have borrowed millions from their companies. The loans are yet another creative way for executives to increase their pay even as they satisfy demands to increase their stock holdings and align their financial interests with those of shareholders... "Flour Corporation: Starting in 2000, it made four no-interest loans to executives for moving expenses. The loans totaled more than $3.5 million... "Maxtor Corporation: It gave its chief executive, Michael R. Cannon, a $5 million loan at 4.98% in June 1999. The loan will be forgiven if he is still employed there in June 2002... http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/business/yourmoney/03LOAN.html --- "3 trillion dollars in speculative operations every day. What does this have to do with world trade? All of the world trade as a whole totals 6.5 trillion dollars a year, which means that every two working days, speculative operations are realized on those stock markets that you hear so much about amounting to approximately the total of world trade operations in a year. "Speculative operations in which money is used to make money have absolutely nothing to do with the creation of material goods or services. This is a phenomenon that has developed uncontrollably over the last 30 years and is growing to ever more absurd heights every day. Can this frantic gambling be called economy? Can the genuine economy that should meet the vital needs of humankind withstand it? Money is no longer used primarily in investments for the production of goods; it is used in currencies, stocks and financial derivatives in the desperate pursuit of more money, directly, through the most sophisticated computers and software and not through productive processes as was historically the case. This is what the much trumpeted and infamous process of neoliberal globalization has brought about... "The developed countries control 97% of all the patents in the world, of course, they have monopolized the finest minds on the planet. In the last 40 years, the industrialized countries have taken a million professionals away from Latin America and the Caribbean. In the United States it would have cost 200 billion dollars to train all these people. Thus, the poor countries of the world supply the developed nations with the finest fruits of their universities. "In the last 10 years, out of 22 Nobel Prize Laureates in physics, the United States attracted 19 and the same happens with Nobel prizes in medicine and other sciences. While knowledge is considered a major asset for development today, the Third World countries are constantly deprived of their best talents... "In the United States: Thirty-six million people, 14% of the population, live below the poverty line, a rate twice as high as that of other developed countries. "Forty-three million people are not health-insured and another 30 million have such low medical coverage that it is practically non-existent. "There are 30 million illiterates and another 30 million functional illiterates. "Among the black population the rate of poverty is over 29%; the rate for the whole population is 14%. The poverty rate among the black population is, therefore, more than twice that of the general population of the United States. Among black children the figure reaches 40%. In some cities and rural areas in the United States it is over 50%. "Despite economic expansion, the poverty rates in America are from two to three times higher than those in Western Europe, and 22% of American children live in poverty. "Only 45% of all workers in the private sector have social security coverage. It is estimated that 13% of the total U.S. population will not live beyond 60 years of age. "Women still earn only 73% of what men earn in comparable jobs and make up 70% of part-time workers, those who have no right to any social benefits. "Between 1981 and 1995, 85% of new workers with more than one job were women. "The richest 1% of the population, who in 1975 owned 20% of the wealth, now owns 36%. And the gap keeps widening. "There is not one millionaire, not one person who belongs to the upper middle class, among the 3600 people sentenced to capital punishment who are now on death row in U.S. prisons. One might wonder why... http://www.cuba.cu/gobierno/discursos/2000/ing/f080900i.html --- "Number of people in the world, (pop. 5.5 billion) that live in abject poverty: 1.4 billion Number of people currently expected to die from starvation: 900 million Percentage of those that live in the undeveloped nations: 97 Number of children in world dying each year from controllable illness: 12 million Number of people in world that died each of the five years of World War II: 10 million Number of people in world that die each year of preventable social causes: 10 million Cost of one new Osprey aircraft (50 planned): $84 million Annual cost of treatment to eliminate world's malaria cases: $84 million Money set aside annually for malaria control by organized world health: $9 million Money set aside for Viagra pills per annum by organized world health: $40 million Number of children in world blinded yearly from lack of Vitamin A: 500 million Number of women who died during childbirth last year in world: 650,000 U.N. estimate of yearly expenditure on war: $800 billion U.N. estimate of yearly expenditure on health services: $25 billion Number of children in world that die by age 5 (yearly): 12 million Percentage of those that succumb to routine preventable health causes: 90 Ratio of African-American to white new born deaths in U.S. last year: 2:1 Number of reported pediatric measles deaths in U.S. last year: 45 Amount of money not allocated by Congress for measles vaccines: $9 million Average amount of 1999 year-end bonus paid to Oxford HMO execs: $6 million Time it takes the Pentagon to spend annual federal allocation for women's health: 15 minutes The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans (2.6 million) received as much after-tax income in 1994 as the bottom 35 percent of the population combined (88 million). By contrast, the bottom 35 percent had nearly twice as much after-tax income as the top 1 percent in 1977. If families in the bottom fifth had received the same share of income in 1994 as they did in 1977, each family would have had $2654 in additional income. Instead, the income of each family in the top 1 percent increased by $132,955. Despite several years of economic growth, the poverty rate declined by less than half a percentage point * 13.7 percent to 13.4 percent * between 1995 and 1997. But this is still higher than the rate in 1989 (13.1 percent) shortly before the recession of the early 1990s. In 1997, the average poor family fell another $200 further below the poverty line, until their income is now $6,602 below the poverty level. In 1996, the number of "very poor" Americans * those making less than half the poverty line * increased by a half million, up to 14.4 million people. Between 1995 and 1997, the decline in the number of people receiving food stamps was five times greater than the decline in the number of people living in poverty. The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans enjoy nearly six times more income than those in the bottom 10 percent, a ratio double many countries and 60 percent higher than average. According to a Luxembourg Income Study comparing purchasing power in 15 countries, low-income Americans are worse off than low-income people in every industrialized country but the United Kingdom. (This comparison does not take into account the fact that low-income households in the U.S. must spend more on services such as health care and child care that are more heavily subsidized in other countries.) At the other end, rich Americans have 42 percent more income than the rich in the other nations. The top 1 percent of the richest Americans have wealth equal to the combined wealth of 95 percent of other Americans: "It used to be said a rising economic tide lifts all boats. Now a rising economic tide lifts all yachts." Twenty percent of American children live in poverty; in the Netherlands that figure is 3 percent. The minimum wage today is lower, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than in 1979. Today's worker works 160 hours longer per year than 25 years ago. Less than one in 10 workers belongs to a trade union in the private sector. More than two million Americans are in prisons, almost one million more than in China, which has a 1.3 billion population. Forty-seven million people work for less than $10 an hour -- this in a decade of sustained economic growth. Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations; only 49 are countries (based on a comparison of corporate sales and country GDPs). http://www.dollarsandsense.org http://www.inequality.org http://www.marxmail.org/facts_frame.htm --- "The welfare state is often associated with aid to the poor. But... five-sixths of all social spending is for universal programs like old-aged pensions and education that also benefit the middle class and the well-off; only 17 percent of government social spending is directed toward means-tested programs that specifically target the poor... "Compared with other affluent industrial nations, the United States does indeed devote less of its resources to government social spending. Among the world's developed nations, only Japan spends less of its gross national product on social programs... "The United States not only spends a smaller portion of its assets on social programs than most other developed nations, it also lacks many of the benefits found elsewhere... the United States lacks government-supported universal health care, a benefit taken for granted by the citizens of virtually every other affluent democracy... "Media images of the poor are disproportionately black. While African Americans make up about 30 percent of the poor, about 60 percent of the poor people shown on network television news and depicted in the major newsweeklies between 1988 and 1992 were black. Similarly, the media portray the black poor in a disproportionately negative light. Every single picture in newsweekly stories about the "underclass"--the ghetto poor--between 1950 and 1992 showed African Americans. In more sympathetic stories about predicaments such as hunger or medical care among the poor, only about one-fourth of the people pictured were black... -Martin Gilens, _Why Americans Hate Welfare_ --- "Imagine a country where one out of four children is born into poverty, and wealth is being redistributed upward. Since the 1970s, the top 1 percent of families have doubled their share of the nation?s wealth?while the percentage of children living in extreme poverty has also doubled. Highlighting growing wage inequality, the nation?s leading business newspaper acknowledges, "The rich really are getting richer, and the poor really are getting poorer." Imagine a country where the top 1 percent of families have about the same amount of wealth as the bottom 95 percent. Where the poor and middle class are told to tighten their belts to balance a national budget bloated with bailouts and subsidies for the well-off. It?s not Mexico. Imagine a country which demands that people work for a living while denying many a living wage. Imagine a country where wages have fallen for average workers, adjusting for inflation, despite significant growth in the economy. Real per capita GDP (gross domestic product) rose 33 percent from 1973 to 1994, yet real weekly wages fell 19 percent for non-supervisory workers, the vast majority of the workforce. It?s not Chile. Imagine a country where the stock market provides "payoffs for layoffs." Imagine a country where workers are downsized while corporate profits and executive pay are upsized. The profits of the 500 leading corporations rose a record 23 percent in 1996 and CEO compensation (including salary, bonus, and long-term compensation such as stock options) shot up 54 percent, while workers? wages and benefits barely kept pace with inflation. The average CEO of a major corporation was paid as much as 42 factory workers in 1980, 122 factory workers in 1989, and 209 factory workers in 1996. A leading business magazine says, "People who worked hard to make their companies competitive are angry at the way the profits are distributed. They think it is unfair, and they are right." It?s not England. Imagine a country where living standards are falling for younger generations despite the fact that many households have two wage earners, have fewer children, and are better educated than their parents. Since 1973, the share of workers without a high school degree has been cut in half. The share of workers with at least a four-year college degree has doubled. The entry-level hourly wages of male high school graduates fell 27.3 percent between 1979 and 1995, and the entry-level wages of women high school graduates fell 18.9 percent. A college degree is increasingly necessary, but not necessarily sufficient to earn a decent income. Between 1989 and 1995, the entry-level wages of male college graduates fell 9.5 percent, and the entry-level wages of women college graduates fell 7.7 percent. Imagine a country where the percentage of young full-time workers (ages 18-24) earning low wages doubled from 23 percent in 1979 to 47 percent in 1992. Where families with household heads ages 25 to 34 had 1994 incomes that were $4,611 less than their 1979 counterparts. It?s not Russia. Imagine a country where leading economists consider it "full employment" when the official unemployment rate reaches 6 percent (over 7 million people). You?re not counted officially as unemployed just because?you?re unemployed. To be counted in the official unemployment rate you must have searched for work in the past four weeks. The government doesn?t count people as "unemployed" if they are so discouraged from long and fruitless job searches they have given up looking. It doesn?t count as "unemployed" those who couldn?t look for work in the past month because they had no child care, for example. If you need a full-time job, but you?re working part-time?whether 1 hour or 34 hours?because that?s all you can find, you?re counted as employed. A leading business magazine observes, "Increasingly the labor market is filled with surplus workers who are not being counted as unemployed." Imagine a country where there is a shortage of jobs, not a shortage of work. Millions of people need work and urgent work needs people?from creating affordable housing, to repairing bridges and building mass transit, to cleaning up pollution and converting to renewable energy, to staffing after-school programs and community centers. Imagine a country where for more and more people a job is not a ticket out of poverty, but into the ranks of the working poor. Between 1979 and 1992, the proportion of full-time workers paid low wages jumped from 12 percent to 18 percent?nearly one in every five full-time workers. Imagine a country where one out of four officially poor children live in families in which one or more parents work full time, year round. The official poverty line is set well below the actual cost of minimally adequate housing, health care, food, and other necessities. Imagine a country where more workers are going back to the future of sweatshops and day labor. Corporations are replacing full-time jobs with disposable "contingent workers." They include temporary employees, contract workers, and "leased" employees?some of them fired and then "rented" back at a large discount by the same company?and involuntary part-time workers, who want permanent full-time work. It?s not Spain. How do workers increasingly forced to migrate from job to job, at low and variable wage rates, without health insurance or paid vacation, much less a pension, care for themselves and their families, own a home, pay for college, save for retirement, plan a future, build strong communities? Imagine a country where after mass layoffs and union-busting, less than 15 percent of workers are unionized. One out of three workers were union members in 1955. Imagine a country where the concerns of working people are dismissed as "special interests" and the profit-making interests of globe-trotting corporations substitute for the "national interest." Imagine a country whose government negotiates "free trade" agreements that help corporations trade freely on cheap labor at home and abroad. One ad financed by the country?s agency for international development showed a Salvadoran woman in front of a sewing machine. It told corporations, "You can hire her for 33 cents an hour. Rosa is more than just colorful. She and her co-workers are known for their industriousness, reliability and quick learning. They make El Salvador one of the best buys." The country that financed the ad intervened militarily to make sure El Salvador would stay a "best buy" for corporations. It?s not Canada. Imagine a country where more than half of all women with children under age 6, and three-fourths of women with children ages 6-17, are in the paid workforce, but affordable child care and after-school programs are scarce. (Families with incomes below the poverty line spend nearly one-fifth of their incomes on child care.) Apparently, kids are expected to have three parents: Two parents with jobs to pay the bills, and another parent to be home in mid-afternoon when school lets out?as well as all summer. Imagine a country where women working year round, full time earn 71 cents for every dollar men earn. Women don?t pay 71 cents on a man?s dollar for their college degrees or 71 percent as much to feed or house their children. Imagine a country where instead of rooting out discrimination, many policy makers are busily blaming women for their disproportionate poverty. Back in 1977, a labor department study found that if working women were paid what similarly qualified men earn, the number of poor families would decrease by half. A 1991 government study found that even "if all poor single mothers obtained [full-time] jobs at their potential wage rates," given their educational and employment background and prevailing wages, "the percentage not earning enough to escape from poverty would be 35 percent." Two out of three workers who earn the miserly minimum wage are women. Full-time work at minimum wage pays below the official poverty line for a family of two... http://www.zmag.org/zmag/articles/sklarjuly97.html Hey, at least we could still wave flags. <=======> Tell no lies, claim no easy victories -Amilcar Cabral Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral -Paulo Friere I hope I never lose hope, but if that day comes and I'm sure that I have nothing to expect, nothing to believe in, and that the human condition is doomed to stupidity and crime, then I hope I will be honest enough to kill myself. -Eduardo Galeano Yesterday we bowed for kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today, we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love. -Kahlil Gibran The truth is always revolutionary -Antonio Gramsci Mas vale morir de pie, que vivir de rodillas -Praxedis Guerrero My silences have not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. -Audre Lorde If you're not ready to die for it, put the word "freedom" out of your vocabulary. -Malcolm X The most important time in history is NOW, the present -Talib Kweli Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. -Benito Mussolini <=======> _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Fri Feb 8 08:52:42 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 10:52:42 -0500 Subject: [R-G] US family wants to be the first familiy with implanted ID microchips Message-ID: <002001c1b0b8$a50a9610$33378d18@Indy1> An article about a US family who want to be the first familiy with implanted ID chips. http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,50187,00.html From: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=131441&group=webcas t "I have nothing to hide, so I wouldn't mind having the chip for verification," Leslie Jacobs said. "I already have an ID card, so why not have a chip?" "The world would be a safer place if authorities had a tamper-proof way of identifying people, she said." Given the incredibly robust and unerring historical record of the worlds governments we have nothing to fear. The system will start with sheeple like this and slowly but surely the chips will become mandatory. Orwell got it wrong, 1984 was light entertainment comparing to the hell we are building for ourselves. From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Fri Feb 8 12:06:13 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 12:06:13 -0700 Subject: [R-G] LAIR OF HUNTERBEAR [Updating Report] Message-ID: <001201c1b0d3$af47f080$5ba90e3f@ibm22761429477> Friends: This is the first up-dating news on our very large Lair of Hunterbear social justice website that we've issued for a number of months. We have added a great deal indeed to it. At this point, it contains about 150 pages with many more component items. We've recently extended our legal claim to the name -- www.hunterbear.org -- for five more years. Attacked frequently by hackers, we are very well protected by top state-of-the-art-technology. Now two years old, we're getting about 1500 hits a week from all over the United States and Canada -- and the world. It's like a vast expanding mine -- and we are constantly working in various shafts and drifts. But instead of taking ore out, we are always adding and finessing, updating, tightening and clarifying. There are many additions -- covering a very wide range: the urgent, contemporary fight for full civil rights and full civil liberties and for peace/with/justice and justice/with/peace. There is much new material on Native Americans, radical labor history [e.g., IWW and Mine-Mill], my involvement in the Southern Movements [especially Mississippi and the Northeastern North Carolina Black-Belt], organizing [ e.g., Chicago and up-state New York, Navajo Nation and North Dakota], our current Idaho situation -- and vastly more. And there are some additional pages from my FBI file [recovered years ago via FOIA/PA] and from the old Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission. Here is a very small sampling: A] We've just yesterday added a special page -- Native American Commission [SPUSA.] I'm the enthusiastic Chair of that brand-new, developing component of the Socialist Party -- and this page will contain material directly relevant to that. It's certainly likely that it'll expand very rapidly. http://www.hunterbear.org/native_american_commission_page.htm I continue, of course, to work congenially with DSA Anti-Racism and the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism -- each of which is linked into our Site as we are to those. B] The personal background narrative relating to me and my family and our Native American [and Western frontier] background -- and my activism and publications -- has been significantly expanded. http://www.hunterbear.org/narrative.htm C] We have a very new, full page [with a couple of illustrations of defense materials] relating to one of the most infamous and hideous Red Scare efforts to union-bust and strike-break: http://www.hunterbear.org/Mine-Millconspiracycase.htm D] Some of the more dramatic strains in my own Native American genealogy -- and several events relating to the turbulent Rocky Mountain fur trade of the early into middle 19th century -- are covered by material focusing on my great/great/great grandparents, John Gray [Mohawk] and Marienne Neketichon [Mohawk.] http://www.hunterbear.org/family_stuff.htm Related to this dimension is our new page dealing with the Mohawk origins of our name, Gray. http://www.hunterbear.org/some_notes_on_gray.htm E] Our Website cover, the very first page -- www.hunterbear.org -- has interesting additions. The Index [Directory] provides a full listing of everything in the Site -- plus a number of announcements and special postings. http://www.hunterbear.org/directory.htm F] Our current -- often hostile, frequently weird -- Idaho situation is thoroughly updated: http://www.hunterbear.org/camp.htm G] Many of my discussion list postings have been expanded, refined, and published in our Site. A few examples: Personal Reminiscence: North Carolina and Jesse Helms http://www.hunterbear.org/personal_reminiscence.htm Reflections on Finns and Finnish-Americans http://www.hunterbear.org/reflections_on_finns_and_finnish.htm Handling the Klan on Easter Sunday -- 1965 http://www.hunterbear.org/handling_the_klan_on_easter_sund.htm Owls and Indians -- and Some Radicals Who Are Neither http://www.hunterbear.org/owls_and_indians.htm In addition, and these have been publicized separately not long ago, I have done two new Native American articles and they're in the section: NATIVE AMERICANS AND THE NEW CENTURY: TWO NEW ARTICLES FOR STRUGGLE, ORGANIZING, FIGHTING, AND VICTORY http://www.hunterbear.org/nativeamericans.htm Finally, about a year ago, Professor Roy Wortman, History, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, published his brace of very long essays: one on me [who he's known for decades] and one on Dave Warren of Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. These appeared in the excellent Journal of Indigenous Thought -- sponsored by one of Canada's largest Native colleges: Saskatchewan Indian Federated College. Here's introductory and lead-in material -- plus links: Editors' Comments by Neal McLeod & Rob Nestor Saskatchewan Indian Federated College [Winter 2001] The Journal of Indigenous Thought continues in this issue to document the intellectual, philosophical, religious and narrative traditions of Indigenous people throughout the world. The current issue draws upon the insights of the work of several people, including Dr. Roy Wortman (Kenyon College), Christine Watson (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), Solomon Ratt (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College), and Neal McLeod (Saskatchewan Indian Federated College). All of the pieces contained within this journal point to the dynamic nature of Indigenous intellectual/ narrative traditions, with a play between traditions and contemporary realities being demonstrated. Dr. Wortman's pieces, "Telling Their Own Stories, Building Their Own Strength: Dr. Dave Warren on Framing and Imparting American Indian History" and " 'I Consider Myself a Real Red' : The Social Thought of American Civil Rights Organizer John (Salter) Hunter Gray" explore the work and lives of two prominent Native Americans. Wortman in the two pieces engages in a thoughtful dialogue with both Warren and Gray with neither being an "informant" or an "object of research." Rather, the words and thoughts of both are conveyed through the interviews which have been skillfully edited by Wortman. Furthermore, the interviews are placed within a larger interpretative framework with references to other contexts and situations which amplify the words and contributions of both Warren and Gray. In the essay, " ' I Consider Myself a Real Red'," important points of contrast are drawn between the experience of Black Americans and the civil rights movement and the attempt of Native Americans to hold on to their identity in the wake of the pressures of assimilation: "Where Black Americans sought to become part of the broader United States society, American Indians sought to remain as much as possible apart from that sphere because of their historical and legal traditions based on treaties" (p. 7). The achievements of Gray demonstrate the challenges of trying to balance the need to maintain identity within the rubric of collective minority as well as the need to participate within the larger society. Perhaps, it is through ambiguity that emerges in this attempt to navigate various cultural and political frameworks, that Gray denounces essentialism. Instead, Gray holds that cultures are essentially an organic, fluid activity, but at the same need a real material/ physical grounding such as that found in Treaty rights (e.g. access to land base) and of the economic contexts that people find themselves in. Roy Wortman and David Warren explore important issues of historiography within the context of Native American history in the paper "Telling Their Own Story, Building Their Own Strengths: Dr. David Warren on Framing and Imparting American Indian History." Given the rise of more writings about Native American history by Native American writers, the discussion of these issues is certainly timely. David Warren's contribution to the Native American history perhaps rests in seeing "oral traditions of a tribal group as a living source as a much as a document" (p. 6). Thus, instead of Native American culture and history existing only in the past as collections of relics waiting to be catalogued and preserved, Native American culture and history is rather a living process in a constant state of development. Like Gray, Warren is also suspicious of essentialistic cultural discourses, and urges historians to engage in multi-layered studies of collective historical experience. "I Consider Myself a Real Red:" The Social Thought of American Civil Rights Organizer John R. (Salter) Hunter Gray by Roy T. Wortman, Department of History, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022 USA "Thanks to you and a few others we now have a much better state. We owe to you a debt that obviously won't ever get paid, except in the devalued currency of kind thoughts and appreciative words from those of us who have some understanding of what you stood for and were motivated by." ---William F. Winter, Jackson, Mississippi, letter to John R. Salter, Nov. 21, 1990. Winter was governor of Mississippi, 1980 - 84. During the desegregation battles in the 1960s, while a state official, Winter courageously remained in a minority by refusing to join the White Citizens Council which endorsed segregation. Copies of letter in the Salter Papers, Social Action Archives, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin; and in Salter Papers, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, Mississippi. "I consider myself a Real Red. In addition to being a half - breed Indian, I belonged, in the 1950s, to the last of the really old-time Industrial Workers of the World and I was also an International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers man." "I've been a social justice agitator all my life and I always will be one: a radical.... I very strongly believe, from my basic roots, that, if you're going to really believe in something, make it something that serves humanity in a deep and enduring sense and not simply something that serves only oneself. " ---John R. (Salter) Hunter Gray, Manuscript letter to the author, February 21, 2000. ***** See the essay on Salter/Gray http://www.hunterbear.org/essay_on_hunter_gray.htm Or see the entire Winter 2001 issue of the Journal of Indigenous Thought http://www.sifc.edu/indian%20studies/indigenousthought/journal%2Dhome.htm In Solidarity - Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] www.hunterbear.org (social justice) Left Discussion Group http://groups.yahoo.com/group From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 8 12:12:23 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 14:12:23 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Sat., Feb. 9: (OH) Statewide Rally against the Death Penalty & the Execution of John Byrd Message-ID: Saturday, February 9 The Ohioans to Stop Executions Statewide Rally against the Death Penalty "John Byrd, possibly an innocent man, is scheduled to be executed by the state of Ohio at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19 -- the third anniversary of the execution of Wilford Berry." Time: 1-3 p.m. Location: in front of the Governor's Mansion (358 N. Parkview St., Bexley) Directions to the Governor's Mansion: The Governor's Mansion is located at 358 N. Parkview St. (at the corner of Parkview and Maryland) in Bexley, a suburb of Columbus. Travel east on Broad St. from downtown Columbus or take the Broad St. exit from I71 North. Traveling east on Broad, turn left (north) on Parkview. The mansion is on the right-hand corner of Parkview and Maryland. On street parking is available. Contact Info: Ohioans To Stop Executions, 9 East Long Street, Suite 201, Columbus, OH 43215 Phone: 614-560-0654 | Fax: 614-224-7150 | Homepage: www.otse.org Vigils & Other Actions against the Death Penalty & the John Byrd Execution 1. A peaceful presence at the Riffe Tower (at State & High Streets, across from the Statehouse) to protest the death penalty and, specifically, the execution of John Byrd (2/19) -- every Wednesday and Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Please try to join Gary Witte and others with signs and/or handouts. The demonstrations will last throughout the lunch hour. For more information, call 443-6044. 2. Join peaceful vigils at the Governor's Mansion (358 N. Parkview) every Friday 6-7:30 p.m. and _daily beginning on Feb. 10_. The Governor's Mansion is located at 358 N. Parkview St. (corner of Parkview and Maryland) in Bexley, a suburb of Columbus. Travel east on Broad St. from downtown Columbus or take the Broad St. exit from I71 North. Traveling east on Broad, turn left (north) on Parkview. The mansion is on the right-hand corner of Parkview and Maryland. On street parking is available. 3. Calls to Governor Taft asking for clemency for John Byrd throughout the week of February 11. Phone 614-466-3555. Please ask everyone you know to make a call during this week. Those who wish to do so are also invited to fast for one or more days during this period. 4. Execution Vigils (if necessary): At both Lucasville prison and at the Statehouse (on the west side, near the McKinley statue) starting at 8:30 a.m. through time of execution on Feb 19. (For more information on the Lucasville Vigil, go to ). For the religious community, there is a prayer vigil at Trinity Episcopal (Broad and Third) across from the Statehouse starting at 8:00 am on the 19th. There will be vigils around the state at various times on February 18 and 19 as well. For more info about John Byrd, go to ; ; ; ; ; . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From Malky53 at aol.com Fri Feb 8 13:41:31 2002 From: Malky53 at aol.com (Malky53 at aol.com) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 15:41:31 EST Subject: [R-G] Bush got carried away with Axis of Evil imagery - Vancouver Sun Message-ID: <158.89c2ce3.299591fb@aol.com> In a message dated 07-02-02 01:17:32, shniad at sfu.ca writes: << Even the World Wrestling Federation might think twice about its credibility before putting that one up in neon. >> my daughter's profound analysis on the world after 11/9 is the the WWF should Dubya to the WTO for violation of copyright of the 'New World Order' From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 8 13:46:18 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 15:46:18 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Women's Delegation to Afghanistan (Global Exchange) Message-ID: March 5-17, 2002 To Celebrate International Women's Week, Global Exchange is sponsoring a special tour by and for women to Afghanistan. Our objective is to develop awareness of the concerns and issues the Afghan women are facing as well as to witness the changing political, economic and social conditions which have created new opportunities for the women of Afghanistan. Please click on the following link for more information: . Please send this link to anyone interested in this Tour. Sincerely, Nilufar Shuja Global Exchange - Reality Tours Afghanistan Tour Coordinator 2017 Mission Street, #303 San Francisco, CA 94110 800-497-1994 415-255-7296 Ext. 242 www.globalexchange.org -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 8 14:00:24 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:00:24 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Sun., Feb. 10: September 11th and After: Perspectives from the Left (Detroit) Message-ID: From: Bradley Duncan Subject: [SLDRTY-L]: Solidarity Forum in Detroit this Weekend! Join Us for a Special Forum and Discussion: This Sunday February 10th @ the International Institute (Kirby & John R) Detroit, MI September 11th and After: Perspectives from the Left Discussion Topics to Include: -Racism and the Attack on Civil Liberties -Job Cuts and Worker's Rights -Myths and Realities of US Policy in the Middle East and South Asia Speakers to Include: Pam Galpern: Communication Workers of America, New York City Labor Against the War Betsy Esch: Palestine solidarity activists; member, SOLIDARITY Chris Clement: professor of sociology, Virginia Tech; anti-globalization organizer; member, SOLIDARITY sponsored by SOLIDARITY - a socialist, feminist, anti-racist organization Contact Info: , , (313) 841-0160 -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From Malky53 at aol.com Fri Feb 8 14:15:44 2002 From: Malky53 at aol.com (Malky53 at aol.com) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:15:44 EST Subject: [R-G] =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:=20[R-G]=20Today=B4s=20World?= Message-ID: <11d.bd4b9f7.29959a00@aol.com> In a message dated 07-02-02 20:34:08, wmmmandel at earthlink.net writes: << class struggle for socialism has been abandoned by the working class of the entire world >> this is pessimistic determininstic and not entirely true What I will grant is that often the class knows what it is against but is not clearly articulating what it is - by implication - for From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 8 14:26:45 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 16:26:45 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Wed., Feb. 13: Staughton Lynd on the Lucasville Five (@ U of Cincinnati) In-Reply-To: <4CFAFD5E4CB7D4119D2E005004D7CA450242919B@national.afsc.org> References: <4CFAFD5E4CB7D4119D2E005004D7CA450242919B@national.afsc.org> Message-ID: Wednesday, February 13 As reported in the _Columbus Dispatch_ (Jon Craig, "Lucasville Rioter Facing Death Penalty Wins Retrial," _Columbus Dispatch_, 7 Feb. 02, pg. 01A), one of the five prisoners, James Were, who was sent to death row as a result of the 1993 Lucasville uprising has been granted a new trial. Who Killed Officer Vallandingham? The state of Ohio doesn't know, but it's ordered the execution of two black Sunni Muslims and two white prisoners anyway. Staughton Lynd, renowned historian of social justice movements and labor lawyer explains: * the role Cincinnati prosecutors played in this miscarriage of justice * how black and white alliances among prisoners were targeted by prosecutors * why two black men and two white men are scheduled to be executed for Vallandingham's death, yet there is no direct evidence leading to their conviction Come out on February 13 at 7 PM, University of Cincinnati, Old Chemistry Building, Rm. 527 Directions: From 75: Take to exit 3. Turn left onto Hopple/US 52. At light, slight left onto Martin Luther King Jr (not the hard Left). Take MLK Jr. Dr. all the way up the hill. Park and walk to the center of campus. Old Chem building is in the center. From 71: Take to exit 3. Merge onto William Howard Taft. Stay straight to go onto Jefferson Ave. Turn Left onto Martin Luther King Dr. Park. head toward the main part of campus. the Old Chemistry Building is in the center of campus. The event is free to the public. Help us get the word out. Sponsored by Phi Beta Sigma, Theta Phi Beta, Delta delta Delta, Latinos en Action, Alpha Tau Nu For more information, call Wesley Hogan at 513-965-0658. -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 8 15:26:32 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 17:26:32 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Feb. 9-10: The Vagina Monologues (Benefit Performance for RAWA, etc.) Message-ID: "The Vagina Monologues" -- benefit performance Saturday, February 9, 2002, 7:00 PM Sunday, February 10, 2002, 2:00 PM Location: the conference theater on the second floor of the Ohio Union (at the corner of 12th Ave. & High St.), Columbus, OH Event Description: As part of V-Day 2002's College Campaign, OSU's Association of Womyn Student and friends are performing "The Vagina Monologues." In "The Vagina Monologues," Eve Ensler has given voice to a chorus of lusty, outrageous, poignant, brave, highly original and thoroughly human stories. Based on interviews with a diverse group of women -- from a Long Island antique dealer to a Bosnian refugee -- the play brazenly explores the humor, power, pain, wisdom, outrage, mystery and excitement hidden in vaginas. Having seen "The Vagina Monologues," no one -- woman or man -- will ever look at the world the same way again. "The Vagina Monologues" has been called "a bona fide phenomenon" (The New York Times), "alternately funny, poetic and provocative" (Entertainment Weekly), "marvelous, one of the best shows in town" (Daily News) and "a work of art and a piece of cultural history" (Variety). V-Day is an organization inspired by this play and promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money, and revitalize the spirit of anti-violence organizations. Proceeds from this performance will go toward V-Day, RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan), & other pro-woman organizations. Note!!! Show times are 7:00 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 9th; and 2:00 p.m., Sunday Feb. 10th. Contact Name: TaraShea Nesbit Email: Nesbit.7 at osu.edu Phone Number: 614-299-4049 -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 8 15:50:31 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 14:50:31 PST Subject: [R-G] Insiders at Global Crossing sold shares before collapse Message-ID: <200202082250.g18MoVB14645@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 8 15:51:25 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 14:51:25 PST Subject: [R-G] Administration shifts focus on Colombia aid - NYT Message-ID: <200202082251.g18MpPB15798@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 8 15:52:11 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 14:52:11 PST Subject: [R-G] Fifth Amendment capitalists - CSM Message-ID: <200202082252.g18MqBB16615@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 8 15:53:03 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 14:53:03 PST Subject: [R-G] Friends of Terrorism - The Guardian Message-ID: <200202082253.g18Mr3B17431@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 8 15:53:51 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 14:53:51 PST Subject: [R-G] Guantanamo inmates are POWs despite Bush view - ICRC Message-ID: <200202082253.g18MrpB18211@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From mstainsby at tao.ca Thu Feb 7 19:18:25 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 18:18:25 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Forward from Tony Tracy Message-ID: <000501c1b0ff$30b4f840$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> Various news agencies are reporting today that the foreign ministers of the G-7 countries will be meeting in Whistler, BC (about an hour's drive from Vancouver) just prior to the full G-8 meeting in Kananaskis. - tony --- G-7 meeting to be held in Whistler VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980)-- Foreign ministers from the world's leading industrialized countries will meet in B.C. in June. Reuters News Service reported late Wednesday that the G-7 foreign ministers will meet in Whistler in June, in preparation for the full G-8 summit in Alberta. The Alberta summit is set for June 26th and 27th at Kananaskis. The G-7 is made up of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. Russia joines the group for some discussions, turning it into a group of eight. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 8 01:39:12 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 00:39:12 -0800 Subject: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Re:_=5BR-G=5D_Today=B4s_World?= References: <3C62D634.7E84A2E1@earthlink.net> Message-ID: <000701c1b0ff$316d99e0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Mandel" exactly as Joan of Arc, who functioned at a time > when ideology in Europe still took on primarily religious form as it > does in the Mid-East today, he is a defender of the Arab and other > Moslem peoples against American imperialism. You could get skinned on some radical lists for saying that.... > It is that struggle which > will continue until U.S. imperialism is defeated or collapses. Well, if it is bin Laden and Al Qaeda vs. American led-imperialism, we are in serious trouble: the old Luxemburg maxim "socialism or barbarism" would transform into "barbarism or barbarism". If the moslem fighters were to achieve their aims of uniting the Muslim world to expel the imperialist empire, then what would follow from that would be trhe collapse of capitalist power centres and the legitimacy of the empire itself would crumble. That would then be the great opportunity for the revolutionaries to seize the day and snap the spine of imperialism. We have that choice if we plan for it. The maxim must become the truth: socialism or extinction. Macdonald One or > the other has been the fate of all previous empires. A century? Fifty > years? Who knows? > William Mandel From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 8 17:29:36 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 16:29:36 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Fw: Just Say No to Madeleine (Vancouver) Message-ID: <005a01c1b100$dacbf300$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "CESAPI Mailing List" PLEASE CIRCULATE: Please come and join MAWAR and CESAPI to say "N0" to Madeleine Albright, "the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children are NOT worth it." Albright will be speaking at the Orpheum Theatre, Tues 12 Feb. Her extremely insensitive remark was made on the "60 Minutes" program "Punishing Saddam" in May 1996, when the interviewer asked if the lives of more than half million Iraqi children (who have died from sanctions) were worth the price. Albright replied "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price - we think the price is worth it." Demonstrators will meet 6.30 p.m. on Tues 12 Feb, outside the Orpheum theatre at Granville and Smithe. The demonstration will take the form of a circular procession. We will have the props that we used on Jan 19 including the 20' coffin with the 200 dolls representing the daily death toll of Iraqi children. The objective of this demo is to educate the public, and those entering the theatre, about the terrible consequences of the US policies on Iraq, and Canada's complicity with these policies. We do not intend to try and stop Albright from entering, but we absolutely want to let her know we will not forget the part she has played in these crimes against innocent children. Irene, CESAPI member. MAWAR - Mobilization Against War and Racism. CESAPI - Campaign to End Sanctions Against the People of Iraq From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 8 17:48:51 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 16:48:51 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Drugs and terror? Message-ID: <006c01c1b103$8b71e500$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign Links Drugs and Terror Drug Czar John Walters Issues Call to Action to Keep America's Youth Drug-Free Washington, D.C.-The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) today announced a new initiative to educate Americans about the link between illicit drug use in the United States and acts of terror around the world. The initiative, part of the ONDCP's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, combines high-profile advertising, online resources and outreach to educators, community leaders and the entertainment industry in an effort to engage Americans in youth drug prevention. "Drug use hurts our families and our communities. It also finances our enemies. To fight the terror inflicted by killers, thugs, and terrorists around the world who depend on American drug purchases to fund their violence, we must stop paying for our own destruction and the destruction of others," said ONDCP Director John Walters. "As the President has said, 'When you quit using drugs, you join the fight against terror in America.'" *snip* www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press02/020302.html ----- Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting ACTION ALERT: Time Magazine Ignores KLA Drug Charges Are editors following Contra tradition? May 17, 1999 Time magazine's May 17 issue ran a feature on the funding of the Kosovo Liberation Army, titled "A Fighting Chance," suggesting that the KLA is sustained by donations from ethnic Albanians outside of Kosovo. The article reports that the Republic of Kosova Fund holds "more than $33 million" in a bank in Albania, yet in a graphic titled "How the KLA Gets Its Money," Time cheerfully reports that the KLA gets its money from "fund raisers, mailings and other sources." What "other sources"? Bake sales? Time doesn't say. Fortunately, there has been some investigation into the question. The London Times on March 24 cited an intelligence report that indicated as much as half of the funding for the KLA's guerrilla war comes from drug proceeds. And the San Francisco Chronicle on May 5 reported that European and U.S. law enforcement groups see officers of the KLA as "a major force in international organized crime, moving staggering amounts of narcotics through an underworld network that reaches into the heart of Europe." According to the March 24 London Times piece, the police forces of three European countries and Europol are all independently investigating "growing evidence that drug money is funding the KLA's leap from obscurity to power." The Times went on to say that "Albania--which plays a key role in channeling money to the Kosovans--is at the hub of Europe's drug trade," and that Europol is "preparing a report for European interior and justice ministers on a connection between the KLA and Albanian drug gangs." The San Francisco Chronicle reported that, according to Interpol, "the Balkan Route is a principal thoroughfare for an illicit drug traffic worth $400 billion annually." *Snip* http://www.fair.org/activism/kla-time.html ---- and finally, the following: Faceless in Kandahar Namita Bhandare Why is it that so many days after Bloody Tuesday, nobody has owned 'responsibility'? One theory could be that world condemnation from the UK to Pakistan has been so unequivocal that the terrorist group that actually did it has decided that it might be more prudent to remain in the background. *snip* Sporadic revelations about the US's own contradictory stand with regard to the Taliban and the Middle East don't help either. Bin Laden may have received early support in terms of money and training from the CIA against the Soviets. There's another report that the US paid the Taliban $ 43 million to declare opium-growing as un-Islamic. This was a mere four months ago - when the plans to devastate America were certainly under way. Besides, in the seven years since he 's been on the FBI's most wanted list, the Americans have got no closer to catching him, despite putting a $ 5 million price on his head. *snip* http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/190901/detpla01.asp Just felt like a bit of cut and paste agitation today.... ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Wed Feb 6 12:25:26 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 11:25:26 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Please Support Growing Movement for FULL Congressional Investigation Into 9/11 Message-ID: Please forgive the cross-posting, and some of the redundancy here, however this is the best "Condensed Summary of 9/11 Events & "Respected Observers' Commentaries & Research" that I've seen, and I believe that it should top our list of priorities to pass along at least the key info herein, to as many groups as possible, including letters to the editor supporting the movement for Full Congressional Investigation of 9/11 (NOT restricted to Senate & House "Select" Intelligence Committees, as Bush wishes). I believe that if you take a few minutes to at least brief through this, you will find it very worthwhile. Rich --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Wed, 06 Feb 2002 08:33:28 From: "wtcqd2000" To: GlobalGreens at yahoogroups.com "OUR LIVES BEGIN TO END THE DAY WE BECOME SILENT ABOUT THINGS THAT MATTER" -- Martin Luther King "Silence Makes Cowards of Us All" "We may be witnessing the Nazification of our nation." --Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate in literature, January, 2002 EVIDENCE BUILDS - ACT NOW TO PREVENT A COVER UP & WAR: There are now 12 Congressional Committees planning to investigate 9-11, and how it was allowed to occur. Bush & Cheney have taken the unprecedented step of urging the Senate to "limit" inquiries into 9-11. Read the below reports and you may understand "why" Bush and Cheney don't want this in the light of day. [Also, Canadian Television Program SCALDS mainstream US media for completely ignoring the below disturbing reports.] It is CRITICAL THAT YOU SPREAD THIS INFORMATION OUT AND DEMAND THAT WORLD MEDIA AND THE CONGRESS FULLY INVESTIGATE THIS. Cheney has spoken of a list of 40 to 50 nations where US military strikes may occur. If another major terrorist strike occurs in the US, we may very well lose our civil rights completely. As this begins to come out there may be some desperate people in our government that will do desperate things. We must act now, while we still have freedom to act. For a freely emailed Activist Kit, reply to findtruth40 at hotmail.com with "Send Kit" in the subject line. Does all this sound too bizarre? I'm sure pre-war Germans had the same skepticism in the 30's. After seeing the "Superbowl-Neuremburg Rally" on Sunday, any conscious person should begin to be worried. CALL TALK SHOWS, WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ASKING, "WHY DOESN'T BUSH WANT A FULL INVESTIGATION OF 9-11?" and "WHY ARE ONLY FORIEGN MEDIA LOOKING INTO THE BELOW REPORTS?" We may be witnessing the Nazification of our nation. --Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate in literature, January, 2002 What do we know of 9-11 that should be investigated? Pre 9-11 Intelligence Breakdowns: -Reportedly the Bush Administration forced the FBI to "back off" on their investigations of terrorism in the Middle East. FBI Deputy Director O'Neill (killed in WTC on 9-11) reportedly resigned not long before 9-11 over this investigative obstruction, claiming that the main obstruction was the interests of American Oil Companies. (Source: Recently released French Book, "Bin Laden, La Verite Interdite" (Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth) - US Oil interests were well represented within the negotiating team, that apparently was the source of the threat to "bury Afghanistan in a carpet of bombs" unless they played ball in creating a major oil pipeline through Afghanistan. This threat was reportedly made several months before 9-11. (Bush's family has a strong oil background. So do some of his top aides. -U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was until the end of last year president of Halliburton, a company that provides services for the oil industry; -National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice was between 1991 and 2000 manager for Chevron; -Ministers of Commerce and Energy, Donald Evans and Stanley Abraham worked for Tom Brown, another oil giant. [ BBC interview on the above issue: - The Bush Administration forced the FBI to back off of the Bin Laden investigation months before 9-11. Source: BBC transcript BUSH ? BIN LADEN HIDDEN AGENDA! http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/events/newsnight/newsid_1645000/1645527.stm] - CIA Station Chief in Dubai met with Bin Laden only 7 weeks before 9-11 took place, yet they did not try to apprehend him, only met with him. - The CIA station chief in Dubai met with Bin Laden 7 weeks before 9-11, and at a time when Bin Laden was supposedly "wanted" by the CIA. http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584444,00.html? (English) (German Trans.) http://www.orf.at/orfon/011031-44569/index.html - US government agent claims the CIA has been dealing with Bin Laden since 1987, and he suggests in his interview that the terrorist acts of late may well have been planned and paid for by the CIA with US taxpayers money to enable the Bush Administration to "legitimately" bomb Afghanistan into submission. An interview with Michael Springman exposes the CIA's links with the terrorist attacks on September 11 [Michael Springman worked for the US government for 20 years with the foreign service and consulate. He just went public with the story of his involvement in a large scale CIA operation that brought hundreds of people from the middle east to the US, issued them passports and trained them to be terrorists. Hear the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) interview here: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewNote.cfm?REF=1267] -Insider Trading profits off the 9-11 terror don't lead to Osama Bin Laden, but to AB Brown Trust, until recently chaired by the 3rd highest man in the CIA. -[Someone with considerable financial resources, and foreknowledge of the terrorist event, put stock options "against" the airlines that were to explode that week of 9-11. - INSIDER TRADING PROFITS from 9- 11 were reported by the US media when they thought it was Arab terrorists . . . but then the story mysteriously died. Then the UK Independent revealed that it leads to a firm chaired by the 3rd highest man in the CIA (and stranger still is that $2.5 million of the "winnings" are still unclaimed (see below for URL to entire story). http://globalresearch.ca/articles/RUP110A.html . Info confirmed by Independent Newspaper in UK: http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=99402] [Standard FAA and DOD "intercept and shoot down procedures" were violated on 9-11 (see FAA and DOD procedures on "intercepts").] It is a FACT that standard intercept procedures for dealing with these kinds of situations ARE TOTALLY ESTABLISHED, IN FORCE and ON-LINE in these United States 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Regarding rules governing IFR requirements, see FAA Order 7400.2E - 'Procedures for Handling Airspace Matters,' Effective Date: December 7, 2000 (Includes Change 1, effective July 7, 2001), Chapter 14-1-2. Full text posted at: http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/AIR/air1401.html#14-1-2FAA - Guide to Basic Flight Information and Air Traffic Control (ATC) Procedures,' (Includes Change 3 Effective: July 12, 2001) Chapter 5- 6-4 "Interception Signals" Full text posted at: http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/AIM/Chap5/aim0506.html#5-6-4 - FAA Order 7110.65M 'Air Traffic Control' (Includes Change 3 Effective: July 12, 2001), Chapter 10-2-5 "Emergency Situations" Full text posted at: http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/ATC/Chp10/atc1002.html#10-2-5 - FAA Order 7110.65M 'Air Traffic Control' (Includes Change 3 Effective: July 12, 2001), Chapter 10-1-1 "Emergency Determinations" Full text posted at: http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/ATC/Chp10/atc1001.html#10-1-1 - FAA Order 7610.4J 'Special Military Operations' (Effective Date: November 3, 1998; Includes: Change 1, effective July 3, 2000; Change 2, effective July 12, 2001), Chapter 4, Section 5, "Air Defense Liaison Officers (ADLO's)" Full text posted at: > http://www.faa.gov/ATpubs/MIL/Ch4/mil0405.html#Section%205 - FAA Order 7610.4J 'Special Military Operations' (Effective Date: November 3, 1998; Includes: Change 1, effective July 3, 2000; Change 2, effective July 12, 2001), Chapter 7, Section 1-2, "Escort of Hijacked Aircraft: Requests for Service" > Full text posted at: > http://faa.gov/ATpubs/MIL/Ch7/mil0701.html#7-1-2 - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction 3610.01A,' 1 June 2001, "Aircraft Piracy (Hijacking) and Destruction of Derelict Airborne Objects," 4. Policy (page 1) > PDF available at: > http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/cjcsd/cjcsi/3610_01a.pdf > Backup at: > http://emperors-clothes.com/9-11backups/3610_01a.pdf For a clear and detailed description of flight plans, fixes, and Air Traffic Control, see: 'Direct-To Requirements' by Gregory Dennis and Emina Torlak at: http://sdg.lcs.mit.edu/atc/D2Requirements.htm Absolutely NO executive-level input of ANY KIND is required for standard intercepts to be scrambled. WHY DID BUSH'S STAFF NOT FOLLOW NORMAL PROCEDURES IN THE CASE OF A NATIONAL EMERGENCY ON 9-11? DID HE KNOW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? The UK Independent Newspaper has questioned how Bush, who claimed in two public appearances to have seen the first plane hit the first tower on television the morning of 9-11, before the 2nd tower got hit? The significance of this is that no one in the world saw that first tower get hit, at that time, on television. They also question why Bush continued to sit with elementary school students after the 2nd tower was hit and he was informed, "America is under attack." Standard procedure for such a situation is to whisk the President away, if not for his safety, for the safety of the students. Unless he knew something more than we did that morning. The Independent asks, "what television station was HE watching?" Is it Outrageous to Consider that Elements of a Nations' Government Could Committ Terror on It's Own People for Political Reasons? - ABC News.com's May/2001 story resurfaces about how the US Joint Chiefs of Staff have in the past ACTUALLY DESIGNED a plan to committ domestic terror on Americans to whip them into a war hysteria, to support war efforts by the govt. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/jointchiefs_010501.html [The National Security Archive has a PDF version of the Operation Northwoods plan, which author James Bamford says "may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government." It can be found at the following URL:] http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/ After 9-11 Oddities: Anthrax sent to top Democrat Daschle and to the U.S. media (NBC & The National Inquirer) had the effect of "uniting the nation behind the Bush Administration's war effort," and literally shutting down Congress in many ways. Oddities exist when the anthrax issue is looked at closely: - New Science Journal says Anthrax sent to Daschle is NOT Russian or Iraqi, but likely US military strain. - San Francisco Chronicle reports, the anthrax strain produced in US University is destroyed on ok of FBI (they had studied this for years, some at university question the timing of the destruction of those anthrax spores . . . right now of all times (?)) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/chronicle/archive/2001/11/09/MN153227.DTL Terror Anthrax Linked to Type Made by U.S. The powder used in the anthrax attacks is virtually indistinguishable from that produced by the United States military, according to federal scientists. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/national/03POWD.html?todaysheadlines After 9-11 Administration Damage Control Efforts: Fire Engineering Magazine assails the incredible speed that the evidence in the WTC collapse is being destroyed. Never in the history of fire investigations has evidence been destroyed this fast before exhaustive investigations can be completed. ["We must try to find out why the twin towers fell" By James Quintiere,Baltimore Sun 1/3/01 http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal- op.towers03jan03.story -WTC "INVESTIGATION"?: A CALL TO ACTION from Fire Engineering Magazine] - - Bush Admin. declares they will "seal the records of presidents beginning with Father Bush/Reagans (an act never before done in US presidential history)." - "It is not a stretch to wonder if this White House is up to something that it doesn't want known 12 years from now or anytimethereafter. [A direct quote from the piece carried by Scripps Howard News Service, 11/5/2001. Re: Bush's sealing of presidential records for the first time in U.S. history] - Bush & Cheney urge Senate Leader to "limit" inquiries into 9-11: Senate perplexed by this. Don't go there: Bush Asks Daschle to Limit Sept. 11 Probes Date: Wednesday, January 30 @ 10:09:24 EST WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle Tuesday to limit the congressional investigation into the events of September 11, congressional and White House sources told CNN. The request was made at a private meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday morning. Sources said Bush initiated the conversation. He asked that only the House and Senate intelligence committees look into the potential breakdowns among federal agencies that could have allowed the terrorist attacks to occur, rather than a broader inquiry that some lawmakers have proposed, the sources said. Tuesday's discussion followed a rare call to Daschle from Vice President Dick Cheney last Friday to make the same request. "The vice president expressed the concern that a review of what happened on September 11 would take resources and personnel away from the effort in the war on terrorism," Daschle told reporters. But, Daschle said, he has not agreed to limit the investigation. "I acknowledged that concern, and it is for that reason that the Intelligence Committee is going to begin this effort, trying to limit the scope and the overall review of what happened," said Daschle, D-South Dakota. "But clearly, I think the American people are entitled to know what happened and why," he said. Foreign Officials have powerful concerns over 9-11: FORMER GERMAN CABINET MINISTER ATTACKS OFFICIAL BRAINWASHING ON SEPTEMBER 11 ISSUE [Source: Tagesspiegel, Berlin, Jan. 13] PARTIAL TRANSLATION In a full-page interview with the Sunday edition (Jan. 13) of the Berlin Tagesspiegel daily, former German Minister of Technology, Andreas von Buelow, said he does not buy any of the official theories that have been presented to date, on the events of September 11. Q: You seem so angry, really upset. Von Buelow: I can explain what's bothering me: I see that after the horrifying attacks of Sept. 11, all political public opinion is being forced into a direction that I consider wrong. Q: What do you mean by that? Von Buelow: I wonder why many questions are not asked. Normally, with such a terrible thing, various leads and tracks appear that are then commented on, by the investigators, the media, the government: Is there something here or not? Are the explanations plausible? This time, this is not the case at all. It already began just hours after the attacks in New York and Washington and-- Q: In those hours, there was horror, and grief. Von Buelow: Right, but actually it was astounding: There are 26 intelligence services in the U.S.A. with a budget of $30 billion-- Q: ...more than the German defense budget... Von Buelow: --which were not able to prevent the attacks. In fact, they didn't even have an inkling they would happen. For 60 decisive minutes, the military and intelligence agencies let the fighter planes stay on the ground, 48 hours later, however, the FBI presented a list of suicide attackers. Within ten days, it emerged that seven of them were still alive. Q: What, please? Von Buelow: Yes, yes. And why did the FBI chief take no position regarding contradictions? Where the list came from, why it was false? If I were the chief investigator (state attorney) in such a case, I would regularly go to the public, and give information on which lead are valid and which not. Q: That sounds like-- Von Buelow: --like assailants who, in their preparations, leave tracks behind them like a herd of stampeding elephants? They made payments with credit cards with their own names; they reported to their flight instructors with their own names. They left behind rented cars with flight manuals in Arabic for jumbo jets. They took with them, on their suicide trip, wills and farewell letters, which fall into the hands of the FBI, because they were stored in the wrong place and wrongly addressed. Clues were left like behind like in a child's game of hide-and-seek, which were to be followed! There is also the theory of one British flight engineer: According to this, the steering of the planes was perhaps taken out of the pilots' hands, from outside. The Americans had developed a method in the 1970s, whereby they could rescue hijacked planes by intervening into the computer piloting [automatic pilot system]. This theory says, this technique was abused in this case. That's a theory.... Q: Which sounds really adventurous, and was never considered. Von Buelow: You see! I do not accept this theory, but I find it worth considering. And what about the obscure stock transactions? In the week prior to the attacks, the amount of transactions in stocks in American Airlines, United Airlines, and insurance companies, increased 1,200%. It was for a value of $15 billion. Some people must have known something. Who? Q: Why don't you speculate on who it might have been. Von Buelow: With the help of the horrifying attacks, the Western mass democracies were subjected to brainwashing. The enemy image of anti-communism doesn't work any more; it is to be replaced by peoples of Islamic belief. They are accused of having given birth to suicidal terrorism. Q: Brainwashing? That's a tough term. Von Buelow: Yes? But the idea of the enemy image doesn't come from me. It comes from Zbigniew Brzezinski and Samuel Huntington, two policy-makers of American intelligence and foreign policy. Already in the middle of the 1990s, Huntingon believed, people in Europe and the U.S. needed someone they could hate-- this would strengthen their identification with their own society. And Brzezinski, the mad dog, as adviser to President Jimmy Carter, campaigned for the exclusive right of the U.S. to seize all the raw materials of the world, especially oil and gas. Q: You mean, the events of Sept. 11-- Von Buelow: --fit perfectly in the concept of the armaments industry, the intelligence agencies, the whole military-industrial-academic complex. This is in fact conspicuous. The huge raw materials reserves of the former Soviet Union are now at their disposal, also the pipeline routes and-- Q: Erich Follach described that at length in Spiegel: ``It's a matter of military bases, drugs, oil and gas reserves.'' Von Buelow: I can state: the planning of the attacks was technically and organizationally a master achievement. To hijack four huge airplanes within a few minutes and within one hour, to drive them into their targets, with complicated flight maneuvers! This is unthinkable, without years-long support from secret apparatuses of the state and industry. Q: You are a conspiracy theorist! Von Buelow: Yeah, yeah. That's the ridicule heaped [on those raising these questions] by those who would prefer to follow the official, politically correct line. Even investigative journalists are fed propaganda and disinformation. Anyone who doubts that, doesn't have all his marbles! That is your accusation. Q: Your career actually speaks against the idea that you are not in your right mind. You were already in the 1970s, state secretary in the Defense Ministry; in 1993 you were the SPD [Social Democratic Party] speaker in the Schalk-Golodkowski investigation committee-- Von Buelow: And it all began there! Until that time, I did not have any great knowledge of the work of intelligence agencies. And now we had to take note of a great discrepancy: We shed light on the dealings of the Stasi and other East bloc intelligence agencies in the field of economic criminality, but as soon as we wanted to know something about the activities of the BND [German intelligence agency] or the CIA, it was mercilessly blocked. No information, no cooperation, nothing! That's when I was first taken aback. The Legacy: "On the surface, selling arms to a country that sponsors terrorism, of course, clearly, you'd have to argue it's wrong, but it's the exception sometimes that proves the rule." - George Bush on Good Morning America. 01/28/87 "You f**king son of a bitch, I saw what you wrote. We're not going to forget this.", - George W. Bush shouted at writer & editor Al Hunt, & his 6 yr old son in a restaurant - 1988 .... IF YOU WOULD LIKE AN ACTIVIST KIT TO GET INVOLVED URGING A FULL PUBLIC INVESTIGATION OF 9-11 AND ITS AFTERMATH, REPLY to findtruth40 at hotmail.com WITH "SEND KIT" and it will be freely sent to you. 1) Enron Investigation Petition http://www.petitiononline.com/ddc22/petition.html 2) 9/11 Investigation Petition http://www.petitiononline.com/11601TFS/petition.html From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Thu Feb 7 17:10:53 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 16:10:53 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Making Waves Message-ID: --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Thu, 7 Feb 2002 11:05:13 From: pete tridish Making Waves 2/2002: People's Media Gears Up It looks like about 150 low power FM applicants, activists, DJs, engineers, lawyers, independent journalists and others will gather at the water's edge at the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland to start up the closest low power radio station to Washington DC. The station will be licensed to South Anne Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development, (SACReD). SACReD is a grassroots, community action organization dedicated to preserving sustainable, environmentally responsible communities along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. In the last few years, the group saved nearly 500 acres of wetlands on the Bay from development, convincing the state and county to purchase the land for a natural wetlands park. This is exactly the sort of group that low power radio was meant for. With groups like SACReD as stewards of the airwaves, there is hope for a more democratic media. For an update on the conference, and general information like schedules, direction, and registration, see the conference website http://www.prometheusradio.org/barn.shtml To see the planned set-up for the equipment that we will be putting together there, including our exciting new free internet linking software, go to: http://www.prometheusradio.org/barn_how_studio.shtml ############# Activist Agenda For Low Power Radio and Media Democracy: Throughout the barnraising weekend attendees will be asked to help compose an action campaign for the LPFM movement and it's role in media democracy advocacy. Beginning on Friday Feb. 15th we will review the basics of the state of media in the U.S. today including media ownership issues and upcoming developments such as corporate control of the internet. We will then all brainstorm in a round table discussion on organizing techniques to raise awareness about media issues and to oppose legislation and policies that would further consolidate corporate media power. The attendees will set the agenda for the weekend and lay the foundation for future organizing. There will be advanced workshops on specific issues as well for those interested in educating themselves further about media democracy issues.Expect some nationwide action proposals to come out a few days after the conference! ############### Price Research: Prometheus has been doing a lot of price and feature research on transmitters and other equipment. Prices are definitely dropping to seduce the low power fm market as manufacturers gear up to produce more low power units. Call us before you buy stuff for your station. We have no financial interest in any company, and we watch the prices, features and quality of the various equipment on the market. #################### Demonstration at the FCC in March! A coalition of media activists is planning a demonstration outside of the FCC in Washington DC on March 22 or 23. They are doing this in conjunction with Media Democracy week, and they will protest to call attention to the FCC's plans to dismantle many key regulations designed to stem the tide of monoply in media ownership. More details soon, but save the date! petri at critpath.org www.prometheus.tao.ca Prometheus Radio Project 215-727-9620 From info at cinox.demon.co.uk Fri Feb 8 10:08:09 2002 From: info at cinox.demon.co.uk (Tim Murphy) Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 17:08:09 -0000 Subject: [R-G] FW: Mullahs and Heretics (Tariq Ali) Message-ID: -----Original Message----- From: Discussions on the Socialist Register and its articles [mailto:SOCIALIST-REGISTER at YorkU.CA]On Behalf Of Harsh Kapoor Sent: 07 February 2002 01:02 To: SOCIALIST-REGISTER at YORKU.CA Subject: Mullahs and Heretics (Tariq Ali) counterpunch.org February 6, 2002 Mullahs and Heretics By Tariq Ali I never believed in God, not even between the ages of six and ten, when I was an agnostic. This unbelief was instinctive. I was sure there was nothing else out there but space. It could have been my lack of imagination. In the jasmine--scented summer nights, long before mosques were allowed to use loudspeakers, it was enough to savour the silence, look up at the exquisitely lit sky, count the shooting stars and fall asleep. The early morning call of the muezzin was a pleasant alarm--clock. There were many advantages in being an unbeliever. Threatened with divine sanctions by family retainers, cousins or elderly relatives -- 'If you do that Allah will be angry' or 'If you don't do this Allah will punish you' -- I was unmoved. Let him do his worst, I used to tell myself, but he never did, and that reinforced my belief in his non--existence. My parents, too, were non--believers. So were most of their close friends. Religion played a tiny part in our Lahore household. In the second half of the last century, a large proportion of educated Muslims had embraced modernity. Old habits persisted, nonetheless: the would--be virtuous made their ablutions and sloped off to Friday prayers. Some fasted for a few days each year, usually just before the new moon marking the end of Ramadan. I doubt whether more than a quarter of the population in the cities fasted for a whole month. Cafe life continued unabated. Many claimed that they had fasted so as to take advantage of the free food doled out at the end of each fasting day by the mosques or the kitchens of the wealthy. In the countryside fewer still fasted, since outdoor work was difficult without sustenance, and especially without water when Ramadan fell during the summer months. Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, was celebrated by everyone. One day, I think in the autumn of 1956 when I was 12, I was eavesdropping on an after--dinner conversation at home. My sister, assorted cousins and I had been asked nicely to occupy ourselves elsewhere. Obediently, we moved to an adjoining room, but then listened, giggling, to a particularly raucous, wooden--headed aunt and a bony uncle berating my parents in loud whispers: 'We know what you're like . . . we know you're unbelievers, but these children should be given a chance . . . They must be taught their religion.' The giggles were premature. A few months later a tutor was hired to teach me the Koran and Islamic history. 'You live here,' my father said. 'You should study the texts. You should know our history. Later you may do as you wish. Even if you reject everything, it's always better to know what it is that one is rejecting.' Sensible enough advice, but regarded by me at the time as hypocritical and a betrayal. How often had I heard talk of superstitious idiots, often relatives, who worshipped a God they didn't have the brains to doubt? Now I was being forced to study religion. I was determined to sabotage the process. It didn't occur to me at the time that my father's decision may have had something to do with an episode from his own life. In 1928, aged 12, he had accompanied his mother and his old wet--nurse (my grandmother's most trusted maid) on the pilgrimage to perform the hajj ceremony. Women, then as now, could visit Mecca only if they were accompanied by a male more than 12 years old. The older men flatly refused to go. My father, as the youngest male in the family, wasn't given a choice. His older brother, the most religious member of the family, never let him forget the pilgrimage: his letters to my father always arrived with the prefix 'al--Haj' ('pilgrim') attached to the name, a cause for much merriment at teatime. Decades later, when the pores of the Saudi elite were sweating petro--dollars, my father would remember the poverty he had seen in the Hijaz and recall the tales of non--Arab pilgrims who had been robbed on the road to Mecca. In the pre--oil period, the annual pilgrimage had been a major source of income for the locals, who would often augment their meagre earnings with well--organised raids on pilgrims' lodgings. The ceremony itself requires that the pilgrim come clothed in a simple white sheet and nothing else. All valuables have to be left behind and local gangs became especially adept at stealing watches and gold. Soon, the more experienced pilgrims realised that the 'pure souls' of Mecca weren't above thieving. They began to take precautions, and a war of wits ensued. Several years after the trip to the Holy Land my father became an orthodox Communist and remained one for the rest of his life. Moscow was now his Mecca. Perhaps he thought that immersing me in religion at a young age might result in a similar transformation. I like to think that this was his real motive, and that he wasn't pandering to the more dim--witted members of our family. I came to admire my father for breaking away from what he described as 'the emptiness of the feudal world'. Since I did not read Arabic, I could learn the Koran only by rote. My tutor, Nizam Din, arrived on the appointed day and thanks to his heroic efforts, I can at least recite the lines from the opening of the Koran -- 'Alif, lam, mim . . .' -- followed by the crucial: 'This book is not to be doubted.' Nizam Din, to my great delight, was not deeply religious. From his late teens to his late twenties, he had worn a beard. But by 1940 he'd shaved it off, deserted religion for the anti--imperialist cause and dedicated himself to left--wing politics. Like many others he had served a spell in a colonial prison and been further radicalised. Truth, he would say, was a very powerful concept in the Koran, but it had never been translated into practical life because the mullahs had destroyed Islam. Nizam Din soon realised that I was bored by learning Koranic verses and we started to spend the allotted hour discussing history: the nationalist struggle against British imperialism, the origins of terrorism in Bengal and the Punjab, and the story of the Sikh terrorist Bhagat Singh, who had thrown a bomb in the Punjab Legislative Assembly to protest against repressive legislation and the 1919 massacre of Jallianwallah Bagh. Once imprisoned, he had refused to plead for mercy, but renounced terrorism as a tactic and moved closer to traditional Marxism. He was tried in secret and executed by the British in the Central Jail in Lahore, a 15--minute walk from where Nizam Din was telling me the story. 'If he had lived,' Nizam Din used to say, 'he would have become a leader the British really feared. And look at us now. Just because he was a Sikh, we haven't even marked his martyrdom with a monument.' Nizam Din remembered the good times when all the villages in what was now Pakistan had Hindu and Sikh inhabitants; many of his non--Muslim friends had now left for India. 'They are pygmies,' he would say of Pakistan's politicians. 'Do you understand what I'm saying, Tariqji? Pygmies! Look at India. Observe the difference. Gandhi was a giant. Jawaharlal Nehru is a giant.' Over the years I learned far more about history, p0litics and everyday life from Nizam Din than I ever learned at school. But his failure to interest me in religion had been noted. A young maternal uncle, who had grown a beard at an early age, volunteered to take on the task. His weekly visits to our house, which coincided with my return from school, irritated me greatly. We would pace the garden while, in unctuous tones, he related a version of Islamic history which, like him, was unconvincing and dull. There were endless tales of heroism, with the Prophet raised to the stature of a divinity, and a punitive Allah. As he droned on, I would watch the kites flying and tangling with each other in the afternoon sky, mentally replay a lost game of marbles, or look forward to the Test match between Pakistan and the West Indies. Anything but religion. After a few weeks he, too, gave up, announcing that my unbeliever's inheritance was too strong. During the summer months, when the heat in the plains became unbearable, we would flee to the Himalayan foothills, to Nathiagali, then a tiny, isolated hill resort perched on a ridge in a thick pine forest and overlooked by the peaks. Here, in a relaxed atmosphere with almost no social restrictions, I met Pashtun boys and girls from the frontier towns of Peshawar and Mardan, and children from Lahore whom I rarely saw during the winter became summer friends. I acquired a taste for freedom. We had favourite hiding places: mysterious cemeteries where the tombstones had English names on them (many had died young) and a deserted Gothic church that had been charred by lightning. We also explored the many burned houses. How were they burned? I would ask the locals. Back would come the casual reply. 'They belonged to Hindus and Sikhs. Our fathers and uncles burned them.' Why? 'So they could never come back, of course.' Why? 'Because we are now Pakistan. Their home is India.' Why, I persisted, when they had lived here for centuries, just like your families, and spoke the same language, even if they worshipped different gods? The only reply was a shrug. It was strange to think that Hindus and Sikhs had been here, had been killed in the villages in the valleys below. In the tribal areas -- the no--man's--land between Afghanistan and Pakistan -- quite a few Hindus stayed on, protected by tribal codes. The same was true in Afghanistan itself (till the mujahedin and the Taliban arrived). One of my favourite spots in Nathiagali lay between two giant oaks. From here one could watch the sun set on Nanga Parbat. The snow covering the peak would turn orange, then crimson, bathing the entire valley in its light. Here we would breathe the air from China, gaze in the direction of Kashmir and marvel at the moon. Given all this, why would one need a multi--layered heaven, let alone the seventh layer that belonged to us alone -- the Islamic paradise? One day, to my horror, my mother informed me that a mullah from a neighbouring mountain village had been hired to make sure I completed my study of the Koran. She had pre--empted all my objections. He would explain what each verse meant. My summer was about to be wrecked. I moaned, groaned, protested, pleaded and tantrumed. To no avail. My friends were sympathetic, but powerless: most of them had undergone the same ritual. Mullahs, especially the rural variety, were objects of ridicule, widely regarded as dishonest, hypocritical and lazy. It was generally believed that they had grown beards and chosen this path not out of spiritual fervour, but in order to earn a crust. Unless attached to a mosque, they depended on voluntary contributions, tuition fees and free meals. The jokes about them mostly concerned their sexual appetites; in particular, a penchant for boys below a certain age. The fictional mullah of the storytellers and puppet--shows who travelled from village to village was a greedy and lustful arch--villain; he used religion to pursue his desires and ambitions. He humiliated and cheated the poor peasants, while toadying to landlords and potentates. On the dreaded day, the mullah arrived and, after eating a hearty lunch, was introduced to me by our family retainer, Khuda Baksh ('God Bless'), who had served in my grandfather's household and because of his status and age enjoyed a familiarity denied to other servants. God Bless was bearded, a staunch believer in the primacy of Islam, and said his prayers and fasted regularly. He was, however, deeply hostile to the mullahs, whom he regarded as pilferers, perverts and parasites. He smiled as the mullah, a man of medium height in his late fifties, exchanged greetings with me. We took our seats round a garden table placed to catch the warming sun. The afternoon chorus was in full flow. The air smelled of sun--roasted pine needles and wild strawberries. When the mullah began to speak I noticed he was nearly toothless. The rhymed verse at once lost its magic. The few false teeth he had wobbled. I began to wonder if it would happen, and then it did: he became so excited with fake emotion that the false teeth dropped out onto the table. He smiled, picked them up and put them back in his mouth. At first, I managed to restrain myself, but then I heard a suppressed giggle from the veranda and made the mistake of turning round. God Bless, who had stationed himself behind a large rhododendron to eavesdrop on the lesson, was choking with silent laughter. I excused myself and rushed indoors. The following week, God Bless dared me to ask the mullah a question before the lesson began. 'Were your false teeth supplied by the local butcher?' I enquired with an innocent expression, in an ultra--polite voice. The mullah asked me to leave: he wished to see my mother alone. A few minutes later he, too, left, never to return. Later that day he was sent an envelope full of money to compensate him for my insolence. God Bless and I celebrated his departure in the bazaar cafe with mountain tea and home--made biscuits. My religious studies ended there. My only duty was to substitute for my father once a year and accompany the male servants to Eid prayers at the mosque, a painless enough task. Some years later, when I came to Britain to study, the first group of people I met were hard--core rationalists. I might have missed the Humanist Group's stall at the Fresher's Fair had it not been for a spotty Irishman, dressed in a faded maroon corduroy jacket, with a mop of untidy dark brown hair, standing on a table and in a melodious, slightly breathless voice shouting: 'Down with God!' When he saw me staring, he smiled and added 'and Allah' to the refrain. I joined on the spot and was immediately roped into becoming the Humanist rep at my college. Some time afterwards when I asked how he had known I was of Muslim origin rather than a Hindu or a Zoroastrian, he replied that his chant only affected Muslims and Catholics. Hindus, Sikhs and Protestants ignored him completely. My knowledge of Islamic history remained slender and, as the years progressed, Pakistan regressed. Islamic studies were made compulsory in the 1970s, but children were given only a tiny sprinkling of history on a foundation of fairytales and mythology. My interest in Islam lay dormant till the Third Oil War in 1990.[2] The Second Oil War in 1967 had seen Israel, backed by the West, inflict a severe defeat on Arab nationalism, one from which it never really recovered. The 1990 war was accompanied in the West by a wave of crude anti--Arab propaganda. The level of ignorance displayed by most pundits and politicians distressed me, and I began to ask myself questions which, until then, had seemed barely relevant. Why had Islam not undergone a Reformation? Why had the Ottoman Empire not been touched by the Enlightenment? I began to study Islamic history, and later travelled to the regions where it had been made, especially those in which its clashes with Christendom had taken place. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all began as versions of what we would today describe as political movements. They were credible belief--systems which aimed to make it easier to resist imperial oppression, to unite a disparate people, or both. If we look at early Islam in this light, it becomes apparent that its Prophet was a visionary political leader and its triumphs a vindication of his action programme. Bertrand Russell once compared early Islam to Bolshevism, arguing that both were 'practical, social, unspiritual, concerned to win the empire of this world'. By contrast, he saw Christianity as 'personal' and 'contemplative'. Whether or not the comparison is apt, Russell had grasped that the first two decades of Islam had a distinctly Jacobin feel. Sections of the Koran have the vigour of a political manifesto, and at times the tone in which it addresses its Jewish and Christian rivals is as factional as that of any left--wing organisation. The speed with which it took off was phenomenal. Academic discussion as to whether the new religion was born in the Hijaz or Jerusalem or elsewhere is essentially of archaeological interest. Whatever its precise origins, Islam replaced two great empires and soon reached the Atlantic coast. At its height three Muslim empires dominated large parts of the globe: the Ottomans with Istanbul as their capital, the Safavids in Persia and the Mughal dynasty in India. A good place for a historian of Islam to start would be 629 ad, or Year 8 of the new Muslim calendar, though that had yet to come into being. In that year, 20 armed horsemen, led by Sa'd ibn Zayd, were sent by Muhammad to destroy the statue of Manat, the pagan goddess of fate, at Qudayd, on the road between Mecca and Medina. For eight years Muhammad had tolerated the uneasy coexistence of the pagan male god Allah and his three daughters: al--Lat, al--Uzza and Manat. Al--Uzza (the morning star, Venus) was the favourite goddess of the Quraysh, the tribe to which Muhammad belonged, but Manat was the most popular in the region as a whole, and was idolised by three key Meccan tribes that Muhammad had been desperately trying to win over to his new monotheistic religion. By Year 8, however, three important military victories had been won against rival pagan and Jewish forces. The Battle of Badr had seen Muhammad triumph against the Meccan tribes despite the smallness of his army. The tribes had been impressed by the muscularity of the new religion, and Muhammad must have deemed further ideological compromise unnecessary. Sa'd ibn Zayd and his 20 horsemen had arrived to enforce the new monotheism. The keeper of Manat's sanctuary saw the horsemen approach, but remained silent as they dismounted. No greetings were exchanged. Their demeanour indicated that they had not come to honour Manat or to leave a token offering. The keeper didn't stand in their way. According to Islamic tradition, as Sa'd ibn Zayd approached the beautifully carved statue of Manat, a naked black woman seemed to emerge from nowhere. The keeper called out: 'Come, O Manat, show the anger of which you are capable!' Manat began to pull out her hair and beat her breasts in despair, while cursing her tormentors. Sa'd beat her to death. Only then did his 20 companions join him. Together they hacked away until they had destroyed the statue. The sanctuaries of al--Lat and al--Uzza were dealt with in similar fashion, probably on the same day. A seventh--century prophet could not become the true spiritual leader of a tribal community without exercising political leadership and, in the Peninsula, mastering the basics of horsemanship, sword--play and military strategy. Muhammad had understood the need to delay the final breach with polytheism until he and his companions were less isolated. However, once the decision to declare a strict monotheism was taken, no concessions were granted. The Christian Church had been forced into a permanent compromise with its pagan forebears, allowing its new followers to worship a woman who had conceived a child by God. Muhammad, too, could have picked one of Allah's daughters to form part of a new constellation -- this might even have made it easier to attract recruits -- but factional considerations acted as a restraint: a new religious party had to distinguish itself forcefully from Christianity, its main monotheistic rival, while simultaneously marginalising the appeal of contemporary paganism. The oneness of a patriarchal Allah appeared the most attractive option, essential not only to demonstrate the weakness of Christianity, but also to break definitively with the dominant cultural practices of the Peninsula Arabs, with their polyandry and their matrilinear past. Muhammad himself had been the third and youngest husband of his first wife, Khadija, who died three years before the birth of the Islamic calendar. Historians of Islam, following Muhammad's lead, would come to refer to the pre--Islamic period as the jahiliyya ('the time of ignorance'), but the influence of its traditions should not be underestimated. For the pre--Islamic tribes, the past was the preserve of poets, who also served as historians, blending myth and fact in odes designed to heighten tribal feeling. The future was considered irrelevant, the present all--important. One reason for the tribes' inability to unite was that the profusion of their gods and goddesses helped to perpetuate divisions and disputes whose real origins often lay in commercial rivalries. Muhammad fully understood this world. He belonged to the Quraysh, a tribe that prided itself on its genealogy and claimed descent from Ishmael. Before his marriage, he had worked as one of Khadija's employees on a merchant caravan. He travelled a great deal in the region, coming into contact with Christians, Jews, Magians and pagans of every stripe. He would have had dealings with two important neighbours: Byzantine Christians and the fire--worshipping Zoroastrians of Persia. Muhammad's spiritual drive was fuelled by socio--economic ambitions: by the need to strengthen the commercial standing of the Arabs, and to impose a set of common rules. He envisioned a tribal confederation united by common goals and loyal to a single faith which, of necessity, had to be new and universal. Islam was the cement he used to unite the Arab tribes; commerce was to be the only noble occupation. This meant that the new religion was both nomadic and urban. Peasants who worked the land were regarded as servile and inferior. A hadith (a reported saying of Muhammad's) quotes the Prophet's words on sighting a ploughshare: 'That never enters the house of the faithful without degradation entering at the same time.' Certainly the new rules made religious observance in the countryside virtually impossible. The injunction to pray five times a day, for example, played an important part in inculcating military discipline, but was difficult to manage outside the towns. What was wanted was a community of believers in urban areas, who would meet after prayers and exchange information. Unsurprisingly, peasants found it impossible to do their work and fulfil the strict conditions demanded by the new faith. They were the last social group to accept Islam, and some of the earliest deviations from orthodoxy matured in the Muslim countryside. The military successes of the first Muslim armies were remarkable. The speed of their advance startled the Mediterranean world, and the contrast with early Christianity could not have been more pronounced. Within twenty years of Muhammad's death in 632, his followers had laid the foundations of the first Islamic empire in the Fertile Crescent. Impressed by these successes, whole tribes embraced the new religion. Mosques began to appear in the desert, and the army expanded. Its swift triumphs were seen as a sign that Allah was both omnipotent and on the side of the Believers. These victories were no doubt possible only because the Persian and Byzantine Empires had been engaged for almost a hundred years in a war that had enfeebled both sides, alienated their populations and created an opening for the new conquerors. Syria and Egypt were part of the Byzantine Empire; Iraq was ruled by Sassanid Persia. All three now fell to the might and fervour of a unified tribal force. Force of numbers didn't come into it -- nor did military strategy, although the ability of the Muslim generals to manoeuvre their camel cavalry and combine it with an effective guerrilla--style infantry confused an enemy used to small--scale nomadic raids. Much more important was the active sympathy which a sizeable minority of the local people demonstrated for the invaders. A majority remained passive, waiting to see which side would prevail, but they were no longer prepared to fight for or help the old empires. The fervour of the unified tribes, on the other hand, cannot be explained simply by the appeal of the new religion or promises of untold pleasures in Paradise. The tens of thousands who flocked to fight under Khalid ibn al--Walid wanted the comforts of this world In 638, soon after the Muslim armies took Jerusalem, Caliph Umar visited the city to enforce peace terms. Like other Muslim leaders of the period, he was modestly dressed; he was also dusty from the journey, and his beard was untrimmed. Sophronius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who greeted him, was taken aback by Umar's appearance and the absence of any attendant pomp. The chronicles record that he turned to a servant and said in Greek: 'Truly this is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the Prophet as standing in the holy place.' The 'abomination of desolation' did not remain for long in Jerusalem. The strategic victories against the Byzantines and the Persians had been so easily achieved that the Believers were now filled with a sense of their own destiny. After all, they were, in their own eyes, the people whose leader was the final Prophet, the last ever to receive the message of God. Muhammad's vision of a universal religion as precursor to a universal state had captured the imagination, and furthered the material interests, of the tribes. When German tribes took Rome in the fifth century, they insisted on certain social privileges but they succumbed to a superior culture and, with time, accepted Christianity. The Arabs who conquered Persia preserved their monopoly of power by excluding non--Arabs from military service and temporarily restricting intermarriage, but although willing to learn from the civilisations they had overpowered, they were never tempted to abandon their language, their identity or their new faith. The development of medicine, a discipline in which Muslims later excelled, provides an interesting example of the way knowledge travelled, was adapted and matured in the course of the first millennium. Two centuries before Islam, the city of Gondeshapur in south--western Persia became a refuge for dissident intellectuals and freethinkers facing repression in their own cities. The Nestorians of Edessa fled here in 489 after their school was closed. When, forty years later, the Emperor Justinian decreed that the school of Neoplatonic philosophers in Athens be closed, its students and teachers, too, made the long trek to Gondeshapur. News of this city of learning spread to neighbouring civilisations. Scholars from India and, according to some, even China arrived to take part in discussions with Greeks, Jews, Arabs, Christians and Syrians. The discussions ranged over a wide variety of subjects, but it was the philosophy of medicine that attracted the largest numbers. Theoretical instruction in medicine was supplemented by practice in a bimaristan (hospital), making the citizens of Gondeshapur the most cared for in the world. The first Arab who earned the title of physician, Harith bin Kalada, was later admitted to the Court of the Persian ruler Chosroes Anushirwan and a conversation between the two men was recorded by scribes. According to this the physician advised the ruler to avoid over--eating and undiluted wine, to drink plenty of water every day, to avoid sex while drunk and to have baths after meals. He is reputed to have pioneered enemas to deal with constipation. Medical dynasties were well established in the city by the time of the Muslim conquest in 638. Arabs began to train in Gondeshapur's medical schools and the knowledge they acquired began to spread throughout the Muslim Empire. Treatises and documents began to flow. Ibn Sina and al--Razi, the two great Muslim philosopher--physicians of Islam, were well aware that the basis of their medical knowledge derived from a small town in Persia. A new Islamic civilisation emerged, in which the arts, literature and philosophy of Persia became part of a common heritage. This was an important element in the defeat by the Abbasids, the cosmopolitan Persian faction within Islam, of the narrow nationalism of the Arab Umayyads in 750. Their victory reflected the transcending of Arabism by Islam, though the last remaining prince of the Umayyads, Abdel Rahman, managed to escape to al--Andalus, where he founded a caliphate in Cordoba. Rahman had to deal with the Jewish and Christian cultures he found there, and his city came to rival Baghdad as a cosmopolitan centre. Caliph Umar's successors fanned out from Egypt to North Africa. A base was established and consolidated in the Tunisian city of al--Qayrawan, and Carthage became a Muslim city. Musa bin Nusayr, the Arab governor of Ifriqiya (present--day Libya, Tunisia and most of Algeria), established the first contact with continental Europe. He received promises of support and much encouragement from Count Julian, the Exarch of Septem (Ceuta in Morocco). In April 711, Musa's leading lieutenant, Tarik bin Ziyad, assembled an army of 7000 men, and crossed over to Europe near the rock which still bears his name, Jabal Tarik (or Gibraltar). Once again, the Muslim armies profited from the unpopul--arity of the ruling Visigoths. In July, Tarik defeated King Roderic, and the local population flocked to join the army that had rid them of an oppressive ruler. By the autumn, Cordoba and Toledo had both fallen. As it became clear that Tarik was determined to take the whole peninsula, an envious Musa bin Nusayr left Morocco with 10,000 men to join his victorious subordinate in Toledo. Together, the two armies marched north and took Zaragoza. Most of Spain was now under their control, largely thanks to the population's refusal to defend the ancien regime. The two Muslim leaders planned to cross the Pyrenees and march to Paris. Rather than obtain permission from the Caliph in Damascus, however, they had merely informed him of their progress. Angered by their cavalier attitude to authority, the Commander of the Faithful dispatched messengers to summon the conquerors of Spain to the capital; they never saw Europe again. Others carried on the struggle, but the impetus was lost. At the Battle of Poitiers in October 732, Charles Martel's forces marked the end of the first Muslim century by inflicting a sobering defeat on the soldiers of the Prophet: naval bases remained in the South of France -- at Nice and Marseille, for example -- but, for now, Islam was largely confined to the Iberian peninsula. A century later, the Arabs took Sicily, but could only threaten the mainland. Palermo became a city of a hundred mosques; Rome remained sacrosanct. Xenophobic northern Italians still refer to Sicilians as 'Arabs'. In 958, Sancho the Fat left his cold and windy castle in the Kingdom of Navarre in search of a cure for obesity, and went south to Cordoba, the capital of the western caliphate and, thanks to Caliph Abderrahman III, Europe's main cultural centre. Its closest rival lay in distant Mesopotamia, where a caliph from another dynasty presided over Baghdad. Both cities were renowned for their schools and libraries, musicians and poets, physicians and astronomers, mullahs and heretics, and also for their taverns and dancing girls. Cordoba had the edge in dissent. There, Islamic hegemony was not forcibly imposed; there had been genuine debates between the three religions, producing a synthesis from which native Islam benefited greatly. The Great Mosque in Cordoba could only have been created by men who had participated in the city's intellectual ferment. The architects who built it in the eighth century understood that it was to represent a culture opposed to the Christian one which chose to occupy space with graven images. A mosque is intended as a void: all paths lead to emptiness, reality is affirmed through its negation. In the void, only the Word exists, but in Cordoba (and not only there) the Mosque was also intended as a political space, one in which the Koran might be discussed and analysed. The philosopher--poet Ibn Hazm would sit amid the sacred columns and chastise those Believers who refused to demonstrate the truth of ideas through argument. They would shout back that the use of the dialectic was forbidden. 'Who has forbidden it?' Ibn Hazm would demand, implying that they were the ones who were the enemies of true faith. In Baghdad they spoke half in admiration, half in fear, of the 'Andalusian heresy'. It would be hundreds of years before this culture was obliterated. The fall of Granada, the last Muslim kingdom in al--Andalus, in 1492 marked the completion of that process: the first of Europe's attempted final solutions was the ethnic cleansing of Muslims and Jews from the Iberian peninsula. When he visited Cordoba in 1526, Charles I of Spain rebuked his priests: 'You have built what can be seen anywhere and destroyed what is unique.' The remark was generous enough, but Charles had not realised that the mosque had been preserved at all only because of the church that now lay inside it. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Islamic world stretched from Central Asia to the Atlantic coast, though its political unity had been disrupted soon after the victory of the Abbasids. Three centres of power emerged: Baghdad, Cordoba and Cairo, each with its own caliph. Soon after the death of the Prophet, Islam had divided into two major factions, the Sunni majority and a Shia minority. The Sunnis ruled in al--Andalus, Algeria and Morocco in the Maghreb, Iran, Iraq and the regions beyond the Oxus. The Fatimid caliphs belonged to the Shia tradition, which claimed descent from the fourth Caliph, Ali, and his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet. The Fatimid caliphs had ruled parts of North Africa and lived in Tunisia till a Fatimid expeditionary force under the command of the legendary Slav General Jawhar captured Egypt, and Jahwar established a dynasty complete with caliph and built a new city -- Cairo. Each of these regions had different traditions, and each had its own material interests and needs, which determined its policy of alliances and coexistence with the non--Islamic world. Religion had played a major part in building the new empire, but its rapid growth had created the conditions for its own dismemberment. Baghdad, the most powerful of the three caliphates, lacked the military strength and the bureaucracy needed to administer such a large empire. Sectarian schisms, notably a thirty--year war between the Sunni and Shia factions, had also played their part. Key rulers, politicians and military leaders in both camps had died in the years immediately preceding the First Crusade. 'This year,' the historian Ibn Taghribirdi wrote in 1094, 'is called the year of the death of caliphs and commanders.' The deaths sparked off wars of succession in both Sunni and Shia camps, further weakening the Arab world. The notion of a monolithic and all--powerful Islamic civilisation had ceased to have any purchase by the beginning of the 11th century, and probably earlier. In 1099, after a forty--day siege, the Crusaders took Jerusalem. The killing lasted two whole days, at the end of which most of the Muslim population -- men, women and children -- had been killed. Jews had fought with Muslims to defend the city, but the entry of the Crusaders created panic. In remembrance of tradition, the Elders instructed the Jewish population to gather in the synagogue and to offer up a collective prayer. The Crusaders surrounded the building, set fire to it and made sure that every single Jew burned to death. News of the massacres spread slowly through the Muslim world. The Caliph al--Mustazhir was relaxing in his palace in Baghdad when the venerable qadi[4] Abu Sa'ad al--Harawi, his head clean--shaven in mourning, burst into the royal quarters. He had left Damascus three weeks earlier, and the scene he encountered in the palace did not please him: How dare you slumber in the shade of complacent safety, leading lives as frivolous as garden flowers, while your brothers in Syria have no dwelling place save the saddles of camels and the bellies of vultures? Blood has been spilled! Beautiful young girls have been shamed . . . Shall the valorous Arabs resign themselves to insult and the valiant Persians accept dishonour . . . Never have the Muslims been so humiliated. Never have their lands been so savagely devastated. The Crusaders settled in the region in the course of the 12th century, and many Muslim potentates, imagining that they were there to stay, began to collaborate with them commercially and militarily. A few of the Crusaders broke with Christian fundamentalism and made peace with their neighbours, but a majority continued to terrorise their Muslim and Jewish subjects, and reports of their violence circulated. In 1171, a Kurdish warrior, Salah al--Din (Saladin), defeated the Fatimid regime in Cairo and was acclaimed Sultan of Egypt. A few months later, on the death of his patron Nur al--Din, he marched to Damascus with his army and was made its Sultan. City after city accepted his suzerainty. The Caliph was afraid that Baghdad, too, would fall under the spell of the young conqueror. Though there was never any question of his assuming the Caliphate itself -- caliphs had to be from the Quraysh, and Saladin was a Kurd -- there may have been some concern that he would take the Caliphate under his aegis, as previous sultans had done. Saladin knew this, but he also knew that the Syrian aristocracy resented his Kurdish origins and 'low upbringing'. It was best not to provoke them, and others like them, at a time when maximum unity was necessary. Saladin stayed away from Baghdad. The union of Egypt and Syria, symbolised by prayers offered in the name of the one Caliph in the mosques of Cairo and Damascus, formed the basis for a concerted assault against the Crusaders. Patiently, Saladin embarked on an undertaking that had until then proved impossible: the creation of a unified Muslim army to liberate Jerusalem. The barbarousness of the First Crusade was of enormous assistance to him in uniting his soldiers: 'Regard the Franj,' he exhorted them. 'Behold with what obstinacy they fight for their religion, while we, the Muslims, show no enthusiasm for waging holy war.' Saladin's long march ended in victory: Jerusalem was taken in 1187 and once again made an open city. The Jews were provided with subsidies to rebuild their synagogues; the churches were left untouched. No revenge killings were permitted. Like Caliph Umar five hundred years before him, Saladin proclaimed the freedom of the city for worshippers of all faiths. But his failure to take Tyre was to prove costly. Pope Urban despatched the Third Crusade to take back the Holy City, and Tyre became the base of its operations. Its leader, Richard Plantagenet, reoccupied Acre, executing prisoners and slaughtering its inhabitants. Jerusalem, however, could not be retaken. For the next seven hundred years, with the exception of one short--lived and inconsequential Crusader occupation, the city remained under Muslim rule, and no blood was spilled. The Crusades had disrupted a world already in slow decline. Saladin's victories had temporarily halted the process, but the internal structures of the Caliphate were damaged beyond repair, and new invaders were on the way. A Mongol army from Central Asia led by Timur (Marlowe's Tamburlaine) laid siege to Baghdad in 1401, calling on the Caliph to surrender and promising that if he did so, the city would be spared. Foolish and vain till the last, the Caliph refused, and the Mongol armies sacked the city. A whole culture perished as libraries were put to the torch, and Baghdad never recovered its pre--eminence as the capital of Islamic civilisation. Despite its presence in India, which its armies had first entered in the eighth century, and, later, in north--western China, and despite its merchant fleets trading in the Indonesian archipelago, in southern China, and off the east and west coasts of Africa, Islam's centre of gravity was by the 14th century moving in the direction of the Bosphorus. On four occasions Muslim armies had laid siege to Constantinople, the capital of Eastern Christianity. Each time the city had survived. But from 1300, the frontier emirate of Anatolia began slowly to eat into Byzantine territory, and in 1453 old dreams were realised and the ancient city of Byzantium acquired its present name: Istanbul. Its new ruler was Mehmet II, whose forebear, Uthman, had founded the dynasty bearing his name over a hundred years earlier. The Ottoman dynasty inaugurated its reign by opening a new Islamic front in South--East Europe, just as Islamic civilisation was about to collapse in the Iberian peninsula. In the course of the 14th century, the Ottomans took Hungary, swallowed the Balkans, nibbled away at the Ukraine and Poland, and threatened Vienna. Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, a majority of Muslims lived under the rule of the Ottoman, the Safavid (Persian) or the Mughal (Indian) empires. The Sultan in Istanbul was recognised as Caliph by the majority and became the caretaker of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Arabic remained the religious language but Turkish became the Court vernacular, used by the ruling family and administrative and military elites throughout the Empire, though most of the religious, scientific, literary and legal vocabulary was lifted from Persian and Arabic. The Ottoman state, which was to last five hundred years, recognised and protected the rights of Christians and Jews. Many of the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal after the Reconquest were granted refuge in Ottoman lands and a large number returned to the Arab world, settling not just in Istanbul, but in Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus. Jews were not the only privileged refugees. During the wars of the Reformation German, French and Czech Protestants fleeing Catholic revenge--squads were also given protection by the Ottoman sultans. Here, there was an additional political motive. The Ottoman state closely followed developments in the rest of Europe, and vigorously defended its interests by means of diplomatic, trade and cultural alliances with major powers. The Pope, however, was viewed with suspicion, and revolts against Catholicism were welcomed in Istanbul. Ottoman sultans began to feature in Eur--opean folklore, often demonised and vulgarised, but the sultans themselves were always conscious of their place in geography and history, as evidenced in this modest letter of introduction sent by Suleiman the Magnificent, who reigned from 1520 to 1566, to the French King: I who am the Sultan of Sultans, the sovereign of sovereigns, the dispenser of crowns to the monarchs on the face of the earth, the shadow of God on Earth, the Sultan and sovereign lord of the White Sea and of the Black Sea, of Rumelia and of Anatolia, of Karamania, of the land of Rum, of Zulkadria, of Diyarbekir, of Kurdistan, of Aizerbaijan, of Persia, of Damascus, of Aleppo, of Cairo, of Mecca, of Medina, of Jerusalem, of all Arabia, of Yemen and of many other lands which my noble fore--fathers and my glorious ancestors (may Allah light up their tombs!) conquered by the force of their arms and which my August Majesty has made subject to my flaming sword and my victorious blade, I, Sultan Suleiman Khan, son of Sultan Selim, son of Sultan Bayezid: To thee, who art Francis, King of the land of France. The tolerance shown to Jews and Protestants was rarely, if ever, extended to heretics within Islam, however. The mullahs ensured that punishment was brutal and swift. To deter heresies they jealously safeguarded their monopoly of information and power, opposing all moves to import a printing press to Istanbul. 'Remember Martin Luther,' the qadi warned the Sultan. The Reformation could be supported because it served to divide Christianity, but the very idea of a Muslim Luther was unacceptable. The clerics knew the early history of Islam and were determined not to repeat it. Unlike Christianity, Islam had not spent its first hundred years in the wilderness. Instead, its early leaders had rapidly found themselves at the head of large empires, and a great deal of improvisation had been required. According to some scholars, the first authorised version of the Koran was published some thirty years after the death of Muhammad, its accuracy guaranteed by the third Caliph, Uthman. Others argued that it appeared much later, but Koranic prescriptions, while quite detailed on certain subjects, could not provide the complete code of social and political conduct needed to assert an Islamic hegemony. The hadith filled the gap: it consisted of what the Prophet had said at a particular time to X or Y, who had then passed it on to Z, who had informed the author, who in turn recorded the 'tradition'. Christianity had done something similar, but confined it to four gospels, editing out or smoothing over contradictions along the way. Scholars and scribes began collating the hadith in the seventh and eighth centuries, and there have been ferocious arguments regarding the authenticity of particular traditions ever since. It is likely that more than 90 per cent of them were invented. The point is not their authenticity, however, but the political role they have played in Islamic societies. The origins of Shi'ism, for example, lie in a disputed succession. After Muhammad's death, his Companions elected Abu--Bakr as his successor and, after his death, Umar. If Ali, Muhammad's son--in--law, resented this, he did not protest. His anger was provoked, however, by the election of the third Caliph, Uthman. Uthman, from the Umayya clan, represented the tribal aristocracy of Mecca, and his victory annoyed a loyalist old guard. Had the new Caliph been younger and more vigorous he might have managed to effect a reconciliation, but Uthman was in his seventies, an old man in a hurry, and he appointed close relatives and clan members to key positions in the newly conquered provinces. In 656 he was murdered by Ali's supporters, whereupon Ali was anointed as the new Caliph. Islam's first civil war followed. Two old Companions, Talha and al--Zubair, called on troops who had been loyal to Uthman to rebel against Ali. They were joined by Aisha, the Prophet's young widow. Aisha, mounted on a camel, exhorted her troops to defeat the usurper at Basra, in what has come to be known as the Battle of the Camel, but it was Ali's army that triumphed. Talha and al--Zubair died in the battle; Aisha was taken prisoner and returned to Medina, where she was placed under virtual house--arrest. Another battle took place, in which Ali was outmanoeuvred by the Umayyads. His decision to accept arbitration and defeat annoyed hardliners in his own faction, and in 661 he was assassinated outside a mosque in Kufa. His opponent, the brilliant Umayyad General Muawiya, was recognised as Caliph, but Ali's sons refused to accept his authority and were defeated and killed in the Battle of Kerbala by Muawiya's son Yazid. That defeat led to a permanent schism within Islam. Henceforth, Ali's faction -- or shiat -- were to create their own traditions, dynasties and states, of which modern Iran is the most prominent example. It would have been surprising if these military and intellectual civil wars -- tradition v. counter--tradition, differing schools of interpretation, disputes about the authenticity of the Koran itself -- had not yielded a fine harvest of sceptics and heretics. What is remarkable is that so many of them were tolerated for so long. Those who challenged the Koran were usually executed, but many poets, philosophers and heretics expanded the frontiers of debate and dissent. Andalusian philosophers, for example, usually debated within the codes of Islam, but the 12th--century Cordoban, Ibn Rushd, occasionally transgressed them. Known in the Latin world as Averroes, he was the son and grandson of qadis, and his other grandfather had served as the Imam of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Ibn Rushd himself had been the qadi in both Seville and Cordoba, though he had to flee the latter when the mullahs banned him from entering the Great Mosque and ordered his books to be burned. These clashes with orthodoxy sharpened his mind, but also put him on his guard. When the enlightened Sultan Abu Yusuf questioned him about the nature of the sky, the astronomer--philosopher did not initially reply. Abu Yusuf persisted: 'Is it a substance which has existed for all eternity or did it have a beginning?' Only when the ruler indicated his awareness of ancient philosophy did Ibn Rushd respond by explaining why rationalist methods were superior to religious dogma. When the Sultan indicated that he found some of Aristotle's work obscure and wished it to be explained, Ibn Rushd obliged with his Commentaries, which attracted the attention of Christian and Jewish theologians. The Commentaries served a dual function. They were an attempt to systematise Aristotle's vast body of work and to introduce rationalism and anti--mysticism to a new audience, but also to move beyond it and promote rational thought as a virtue in itself. Two centuries earlier, Ibn Sina (980--1037), a Persian scholar known in the Latin world as Avicenna, had laid the basis for a study of logic, science, philosophy, politics and medicine. His skills as a physician led his employers, the native rulers of Khurasan and Isfahan, to seek his advice on political matters. Often, he gave advice that annoyed his patrons, and had to leave town in a hurry. His Kanun fi'l--tibb ('Medical Canon') became the major textbook in medical schools throughout the Islamic world -- sections of it are still used in contemporary Iran. His Kitab al--Insaf ('Book of Impartial Judgment'), dealing with 28,000 different philosophical questions, was lost when Isfahan was sacked during his lifetime by a rival potentate: he had lodged his only copy at the local library. The stories of Ibn Hazm, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd demonstrate the potential for semi--official thought during Islam's first five hundred years. The last two, in particular, chafed at the restrictions of religious orthodoxy, but like Galileo after them, chose to live and continue their researches in preference to martyrdom. Others, however, were more outspoken. The ninth--century Baghdad heretic, Ibn al--Rawandi, wrote several books that questioned the basic principles of monotheism. The Mu'tazilite sect, to which he had once belonged, believed that it was possible to combine rationalism and belief in one God. They questioned the Revelation, rejected predestination, insisted that the Koran was a created and not a revealed book, and criticised the quality of its composition, its lack of eloquence and the impurity of its language. Only Reason dictated obligation to God.[7] Ibn al--Rawandi went further still, arguing that religious dogma was always inferior to reason, because only through reason could one attain integrity and moral stature. The ferocity of his assault first surprised, then united Islamic and Jewish theologians, who denounced him mercilessly. None of his original work has survived, and we know of him and his writings mainly through Muslim and Jewish critics' attempts to refute his heresies. However, he also makes a remarkable appearance in the work of the poet--philosopher Abu al--Ala al--Ma'ari (973--1058), whose epic poem Risalat al--Ghufran ('Treatise on Forgiveness'), set in Paradise and Hell, has Ibn al--Rawandi berating God: 'Thou didst apportion the means of livelihood to Thy creatures like a drunk revealing his churlishness. Had a man made such a division, we would have said to him: "You swindler! Let this teach you a lesson."' The guardians of Islam during the Ottoman period knew this history well and were determined to prevent any challenge to Muslim orthodoxy. This may have preserved the dynasty, but it sank the Empire. By keeping Western European inventions, ideologies and scientific advances at bay, the clerics sealed the fate of the caliphate. But in the view of the majority of Muslims, the Ottomans had preserved the Islamic heritage, extended the frontiers of their religion, and, in the Arab East, created a new synthesis: an Ottoman Arab culture that united the entire region by means of a state bureaucracy presiding over a common administration and financial system. The Ottoman state, like other Muslim empires of the period, was characterised by three basic features: the absence of private property in the countryside, where the cultivator did not own and the owner (the state) did not cultivate; the existence of a powerful, non--hereditary bureaucratic elite in the administrative centres; and a professional, trained army with a slave component. By abolishing the traditional tribal aristocracy and forbidding the ownership of landed estates, the Ottomans had preserved their position as the only dynasty in the Empire, and the only repository of a quasi--divine power. To combat dynastic threats, they created a civil service recruited from every part of the Empire. The devshirme system forced Christian families in the Balkans and elsewhere to part with a son, who became the property of the state. He was sheltered, fed and educated until he was old enough to train in the academy as a soldier or bureaucrat. Thus Circassians, Albanians, Slavs, Greeks, Armenians and even Italians rose to occupy the highest offices of the Empire. Traditional hostility to the ploughshare determined the urban bias of the dynasties that ruled large tracts of the Islamic world, but to what extent was this attitude also responsible for the absence of landed property? This was not a local phenomenon: not one of the caliphates favoured the creation of a landed gentry or peasant--ownership or the existence of communal lands. Any combination of these would have aided capital--formation, which might have led to industrialisation, as it later did in Western Europe. The sophisticated agricultural techniques employed by the Arabs in Spain can be adduced to prove that working on the land was not taboo, but these techniques were generally confined to land surrounding towns, where cultivation was intense and carried out by the townsfolk. Rural land was rented from the state by middlemen, who in turn hired peasants to work on it. Some of the middlemen did become wealthy, but they lived and spent their money in the towns. In Western Europe, the peculiarities of the feudal system -- the relative autonomy enjoyed by village communities organised round communal lands, combined with the limited but real sovereignties of vassals, lords and liege lords -- encouraged the growth of small towns in the Middle Ages. The countryside still dominated, but political power was feudal power -- that is, it wasn't centralised. In the towns, trade and manufacturing was controlled by the guilds. In this arrangement lay the origins of modern capitalism. The subordination of the countryside in the Islamic world, with its a rigidly dynastic political structure dependent on a turbulent military caste, meant that the caliphates could not withstand the political and economic challenge posed by Western Europe. Radical nationalist impulses began to develop in the Ottoman lands as early as the late 18th century, when Turkish officers, influenced by the French Revolution and, much later, by Comte, began to plot against the regime in Istanbul. The main reason that the Ottomans staggered on till the First World War is that the three vultures eyeing the prey -- the British Empire, tsarist Russia and the Habsburgs -- could not agree on a division of the spoils. The only solution appeared to be to keep the Empire on its knees. The First World War ended with the defeat of the Ottomans, who had aligned themselves with the Kaiser. As the triumphant powers were discussing how to divide their booty, a Turkish nationalist force led by Kemal Pasha (later Ataturk) staked its claim to what is now Turkey, preventing the British from handing over Istanbul to the Greeks. For the first time in its history, thanks to Ataturk, Islam was without a caliph or even a pretender. Britain would have preferred to defeat and dump Ataturk, while hanging on to the Caliph, who could have become a pensioner of imperialism, kept for ceremonial occasions, like the last Mughal in Delhi before the 1857 Mutiny. It was the discovery of black gold underneath the Arabian desert that provided the old religion with the means and wherewithal to revive its culture while Britain created new sultans and emirs to safeguard their newest and most precious commodity. Throughout the 20th century, the West, to safeguard its own economic interests, supported the most backward, despotic and reactionary survivals from the past, helping to defeat all forms of secularism. As we know, the story is unfinished. Tariq Ali is a frequent contributor to CounterPunch. He is the author of The Stone Woman. His new book The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity will be published in April by Verso. -- From wmmmandel at earthlink.net Fri Feb 8 17:51:06 2002 From: wmmmandel at earthlink.net (William Mandel) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 16:51:06 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Re: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Today=B4s?= World References: <3C62D634.7E84A2E1@earthlink.net> <000701c1b0ff$316d99e0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> Message-ID: <3C64727A.10C2A028@earthlink.net> Do you have a definition of socialism? If it is Marxist socialism, that requires (see Communist Manifesto and, 25 years later, Critique of the Gotha Programme, and much in between) abolition of the market. No market means no way to find out where plastic is better than steel, for price is the one way to settle arguments on such scores. The Communist-governed countries were Marxist: no market for the vast bulk of everything produced. It didn't work. As to other kinds of socialism, one of the best things in the Communist Manifesto is their demolition of all other known socialisms as Utopian. Unfortunately, their's turned out to be, too. We simply don't know how society will evolve. Actually, that makes me happy, because it gives democracy a chance. Utopias shoved down people's throats, whether by burning at the stake or Gulag, have not proved either desirable or workable in the long term. So to me, the job is to demolish the evil that is, which is U.S. domination of the world. What role each people, or each religious or political or ethnic movement will play, is absolutely unpredictable. Just look at the history of the past century. William Mandel As to being skinned on radical lists, that's been my experience for a lifetime, except when Joe McCarthy and HUAC and the McCarran Committee and the "liberals" of academe and our "free" publishing industry took over the chore. William Mandel ======================================================== My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999), was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the American people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious movements: labor, student, peace, civil rights South and North, civil liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee, the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website, http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON PACIFICA), with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist movement, although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife, Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The book is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed copy, send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611 ======================================================== From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 8 18:02:53 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 17:02:53 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Please Support Growing Movement for FULL Congressional Investigation Into 9/11 References: Message-ID: <00c201c1b105$81201200$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Wenzel" I agree with your post. What I don't agree with is putting all of your addresses in the "to" line. If Richard or others could post using "bcc" it would help reduce spam, as these kinds of multi address posts tend to be picked up by spammers. I regularly have to refuse somebody claiming to have hidden millions in the Congo, who only needs 10 000 bucks to get it and split the loot with all of us. We don't need more of this. cheers to all, ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From wmmmandel at earthlink.net Fri Feb 8 17:58:23 2002 From: wmmmandel at earthlink.net (William Mandel) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 16:58:23 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Re: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Today=B4s?= World References: <11d.bd4b9f7.29959a00@aol.com> Message-ID: <3C64742F.A521DB18@earthlink.net> 150 years after the Manifesto, with the working class worldwide incomparably more literate than then, it can't clearly articulate what it is for? With the traditions of Debs and Dimitrov and Luxembourg and Lenin and Togliatti and Liebknecht and hundreds of others? Come on! Bill Mandel Malky53 at aol.com wrote: > > In a message dated 07-02-02 20:34:08, wmmmandel at earthlink.net writes: > > << class struggle for socialism has been abandoned by the > working class of the entire world >> > > this is > > pessimistic > > determininstic > > and not entirely true > > What I will grant is that often the class knows what it is against but is not > clearly articulating what it is - by implication - for > > _______________________________________________ > Rad-Green mailing list > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green -- ======================================================== My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999), was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the American people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious movements: labor, student, peace, civil rights South and North, civil liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee, the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website, http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON PACIFICA), with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist movement, although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife, Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The book is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed copy, send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611 ======================================================== From cbcox at ilstu.edu Fri Feb 8 18:17:20 2002 From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 19:17:20 -0600 Subject: [R-G] Please Support Growing Movement for FULL CongressionalInvestigation Into 9/11 References: Message-ID: <3C6478A0.CED315A4@ilstu.edu> I won't bother to argue the point, but I want to declare that this sort of thing is a perfect way to bog an anti-war movement down in a huge pile of irrelevant clutter. It won't succeed in doing that, but it will succeed in damaging the credibility and usefulness to the movement of many good comrades who let themselves be drawn into this abyss of speculation piled on speculation, of irrelevant fact piled on irrelevant fact. Carrol From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 8 19:40:39 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2002 18:40:39 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Please Support Growing Movement for FULL CongressionalInvestigation Into 9/11 References: <3C6478A0.CED315A4@ilstu.edu> Message-ID: <01d001c1b113$2a25cd60$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" > I won't bother to argue the point, but I want to declare that this sort > of thing is a perfect way to bog an anti-war movement down in a huge > pile of irrelevant clutter. Carrol, I have noticed you like to tell me what I shouldn't be discussing. Please then, for balance, tell me what I ought to discuss. Even better if we got the ball rolling here and now. I think it is pretty clear that I believe it is not tacky to investigate into the basics of this whole episode, since the outcome has been America Uber Alles. We should question *everything*. Macdonald From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sat Feb 9 00:06:50 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 02:06:50 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Lederman on Giuliani, Bush, Hilter, Rockerfeller and September 11th Message-ID: <00ee01c1b138$61ca0900$33378d18@Indy1> Giuliani Invokes Hitler-Rockefeller-Bush Conspiracy to Explain 9/11 by Robert Lederman http://baltech.org/lederman/giuliani-rockerfeller-bush-conspiracy-1-28-02.ht ml Index of his articles: http://baltech.org/lederman/index.html From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sat Feb 9 00:31:32 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 02:31:32 -0500 Subject: [R-G] FBI Arrests Innocent Iraqi Man In Salt Lake City, Utah Message-ID: <015501c1b13b$d59875d0$33378d18@Indy1> How long will it take for fascism to grip the American public? Or has it already?? FBI Arrests Innocent Iraqi Man In Salt Lake City, Utah by Tami Peterson 10:00pm Fri Feb 8 '02 tpsf70 at hotmail.com A Salt Lake City Iraqi man, Hani Al-Bazoni, is arrested by the FBI for false charges of being a "terrorist threat" to the Olympic Games for accidentally stumbling onto private property last July. Hani Al-Bazoni was arrested on Thursday, February 7 by the FBI for allegedly making "terrorist threats" against the United States. These accusations are completely racist and incorrect. Hani came to the United States after resisting the draft to to the Iraqi military who then sought to kill him. After spending a few years in a Saudi Arabian refugee camp, he made it to the United States where he now lives with his wife who is a US citizen and their children. He also owns a small business in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hani and some friends were fishing around the Mountain Dell Resevoir. The did not realize they were trespassing until someone called the police who came and issued citations to the men. This was last July. On Thursday, Hani was arrested by the FBI for supposedly having made "terrorist threats" against America last July. No one seems to have an explanation for why - if this was true - he wasn't arrested immediately for making such statements. This leads any thinking person to believe that the FBI is making this up. He was released today by Judge "Alba [who] ordered al-Bazoni to report to authorities several times a week while awaiting trial and to obtain permission before leaving the state." - according to the Deseret News. Hani has since been receiving harrasment from neighbors who copied today's Tribune article and plastered his neighborhood letting everyone know that a "terrorist" lives there. A local police officer came to his house as well and told him "I just wanted to know where the terrorist lived". Please send Hani your letters of support and let him know that there are plenty of people in the US and around the world who won't stand for racist profiling of individuals based on the color of their skin or what country they are from. I know Hani personally and find it an atrocity that they are trying to smear his good name in the local media, and trying to throw him behind bars because he is from Iraq. Please send letters and gifts of support to: Hani Al-Bazoni c/o Jeremy's Quality Auto Repair 865 S. Main Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Hani will also need help with legal council and would appreciate if any groups or organizations were willing to help him with the harrassment that he is facing. General letters of support are encouraged as well. If you need further information on the case you can contact me at tpsf70 at hotmail.com Thank you I am attaching the two articles from the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News for your reference. Articles found here: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=131892&group=webcast From miyachi9 at gctv.ne.jp Sat Feb 9 03:02:01 2002 From: miyachi9 at gctv.ne.jp (miyachi) Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 19:02:01 +0900 Subject: [R-G] Re: [R-G] Today=?ISO-2022-JP?B?GyRCIS0bKEo=?=s World In-Reply-To: <3C64742F.A521DB18@earthlink.net> Message-ID: on 2/9/02 09:58 AM, William Mandel at wmmmandel at earthlink.net wrote: > 150 years after the Manifesto, with the working class worldwide > incomparably more literate than then, it can't clearly articulate what > it is for? With the traditions of Debs and Dimitrov and Luxembourg and > Lenin and Togliatti and Liebknecht and hundreds of others? Come on! > Bill Mandel > > Malky53 at aol.com wrote: >> >> In a message dated 07-02-02 20:34:08, wmmmandel at earthlink.net writes: >> >> << class struggle for socialism has been abandoned by the >> working class of the entire world >> >> >> this is >> >> pessimistic >> >> determininstic >> >> and not entirely true >> >> What I will grant is that often the class knows what it is against but is not >> clearly articulating what it is - by implication - for >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Rad-Green mailing list >> Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu >> To change your options or unsubscribe go to: >> http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green You need not concern. Ongoing various social movements such as anti-globalizaiton ,ecology, feminists, ethnic rebuilding, local community rebuilding using LETS as exchange means and small banking which is for example, in progress in Afghan revival plan due to World bank, UN,UNICEF, or religious form of class struggle, especially by Muslim emerges increasingly day by day. We may better change image of revolution, which we experienced past. Lenin or Mao type political revolution may be old. Because although they succeeded in abolishing capital but failed to abolish money. To abolish money may be key point of expected revolution, and its process already exists, for example LETS instead money. We learned in school that working-class revolution is differ from bourgeois revolution in which within feudal system bourgeois matured and leaded to revolution. Differ from bourgeois revolution, we are taught that working-class revolution begins with taking over political power. But in reality, we are experiencing new type society are emerging increasingly within capitalist system. We may base these new social movements as revolutionary elements and may take over political power as final action. MIYACHI TATSUO PSYCHIATRIC DEPARTMENT KOMAKI MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL KOMAKI CITY AICHI Pre. JAPAN miyachi9 at gctv.ne.jp From aaron at istop.com Sat Feb 9 07:13:40 2002 From: aaron at istop.com (aaron at istop.com) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 09:13:40 -0500 (EST) Subject: [R-G] atl: some info on eugenics Message-ID: <20020209141340.9987417014@ns.istop.com> want to learn what eugenics is? check out this site www.eugenicsarchive.org From pieinsky at igc.org Sat Feb 9 08:00:33 2002 From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 10:00:33 -0500 Subject: [R-G] May Attack on Iraq? Message-ID: <018501c1b17b$1c227ac0$457df2d0@bypass.com> ISRAEL SAYS US TO LAUNCH ATTACK ON IRAQ IN MAY Israeli defence experts predict that the United States will launch an attack on Iraq in May, after US President Gorge Bush branded Iraq, Iran and North Korea an axis of evil, ABC Radio Australia News reports. The military experts, quoted by the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, say the Pentagon has received permission to start preparations for an offensive against Iraq as the second phase of Washington's global war on terror after Afghanistan. The Israelis say the Americans have already started mustering the necessary troops and were coordinating with the Iraqi opposition. The paper says Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer will ask the US administration to coordinate its offensive with the Israeli leadership. Henry L. Marconi PRAVDA.Ru Sydney http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/02/07/26267.html From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Sat Feb 9 09:56:10 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 09:56:10 -0700 Subject: [R-G] The Charles Pickering nomination for the Fifth Circuit Message-ID: <001501c1b18a$aef24240$f433e243@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: As I've indicated in at least two previous posts on this matter, I'm certainly strongly opposed to the Pickering nomination. I hope concerned people in the 'States will contact their US Senators and indicate opposition to him as nominee for a judgeship on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals [New Orleans.] A few days ago, Charles Evers, brother of Medgar Evers [martyred at Jackson in June '63], had a piece in the Wall Street Journal endorsing Pickering for the Fifth Circuit and has otherwise indicated his support for this Bush nominee. I do not find Charles' endorsement in this matter to be at all compelling. Charles Evers and I go back quite a ways indeed -- but have had a number of disagreements. Essentially, in sharp contrast to Medgar, he's been a pretty consistent Republican for some decades and has never been friendly to union labor. [On the other hand, he is a person of courage and, because of the "old tie" from the Mississippi War, I would never put him personally down -- I like him -- but we do disagree on much.] On the matter of Pickering taking an ostensibly bold and courageous anti-Klan stand in 1967, the reality is that -- although risks are always involved in any anti-Klan position -- the Magnolia State and the South generally had undergone some considerable change by that date. Much Southwide grassroots civil rights movement had been going on for years. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which emerged because of heroic organizing and activism, were having their very positive impact. The hard-lines of resistance to social change had been broken, many initial victories had been won, and much desegregation [and even some integration] was underway. The atmosphere of terror was waning very rapidly. The Klan was certainly persona non grata in the broad Southern sense by 1967. Poor Whites generally, and the Klan -- made up primarily of low-income and otherwise marginal Whites -- had frequently been cynically used -- as a tool -- for generations by the middle- and upper-class forces to keep low-income Blacks and Whites apart, keep unions away, and maintain the political and economic control by "the big mules:" the bosses. The enduring courage and commitment of the Southern Movement generated the increasingly intense, multi-faceted complex of pressures which created, among other things, major cost factor crises that steadily forced the Southern establishment into "tokenism" and "moderation" and finally even into some substantial concessions. In that context, the Klan and comparable poor and marginal White groups became, in the eyes of the respectables, liabilities and the "rabble" was then discarded and dumped. At that point, inflamed poor Whites, seeing betrayal from above, turned venomously on their "captains" -- as examples, blowing up the offices of a South Mississippi newspaper that called for compliance with Federal law and generating threats and cross-burnings against a Mississippi judge who denounced racist violence. At that and comparable points, the full force of the Southern police state mechanisms -- always used so viciously against the Movement -- were brought to bear on the Klan and its kin. [For a discussion of the Klan in the context of the changing South, see one of my articles on the topic, "Beneath The Burning Crosses: Reflections On The Klan And Poor People" which was published in the September 1981 issue of Sojourners and then reprinted by Klanwatch in its SPECIAL REPORT: The Ku Klux Klan -- A History of Racism and Violence, Klanwatch, The Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, 1982. The article is on my website via http://www.hunterbear.org/continued_reflections_on_hate_gr.htm ] Anyway, in 1967, Charles Pickering's anti-Klan testimony against Sam Bowers would be quite in accord with the wishes of the prevailing ethos of the pragmatic dimension of the Magnolia power structure. In short, no big thing. Some dangers -- but Pickering obviously had plenty of law enforcement protection. No risks for him reputationally -- not by that point. This fact is briefly mentioned by Attorney Charles Taylor, formerly with the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, in the following New York Times [2/8/02] article on the Pickering nomination. Mr Taylor's statement is correct. In addition to all of this and much more, I'd also be extremely concerned about Pickering's current and future stance on labor union issues and civil liberties in general and the death penalty. Just some quick thoughts. Hunter [Hunterbear] Judicial Confirmation Hearing Evokes Civil Rights Struggle By NEIL A. LEWIS http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/08/politics/08JUDG.html WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 - A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Charles W. Pickering to be a federal appeals court judge turned quickly today into a pained retrospective of the turbulent civil rights era in Mississippi, his home state, and an examination of his behavior in those days. Judge Pickering, who sits as a federal trial judge in Hattiesburg, Miss., has been nominated by President Bush to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana. Civil rights groups and abortion rights advocates have lined up against the nomination, and the committee's Democrats today questioned the judge's record on the bench for the last 11 years and, with more reserve, his actions as a state senator and county attorney before then. Committee Republicans, energized at the beginning of the hearing by a visit from Senator Trent Lott, the Senate minority leader and Judge Pickering's principal patron, mounted a vigorous defense. The Pickering confirmation fight is the first full-scale battle over a judicial nomination in the Bush administration. Many at today's hearing - senators, liberal and conservative lobbyists and even reporters - took it as a warm-up for more serious confirmation fights to come. There is a wide expectation that one or more Supreme Court justices will retire while Mr. Bush is in office, and all the weapons that are deployed in such modern political combat were being hauled out, including negative research, arranging for sympathetic character witnesses and indignant statements. Judge Pickering tried to pre-empt his critics with an opening statement in which he defended his behavior both on the bench and off. Because he had been criticized for a 1959 law review article seemingly encouraging strengthening the state antimiscegenation law, he said he had never opposed mixed-race marriages. As a county attorney, he said, he testified in 1967 against Sam Bowers, a Klan leader who was being tried for the firebombing death of Vernon Dahmer, a civil rights leader, "who was doing nothing more than helping African-Americans obtain their constitutional right to vote." He said the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned him he could be harmed by the Klan. "This was a sobering moment," he said, as he had two small children at the time. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, repeated the story and depicted the young Pickering as one of the courageous figures of the civil rights era in Mississippi. "The Klan threatened to have County Attorney Pickering whipped," Mr. McConnell said. "While it is easy in Washington, in 2002, to make a speech or sign a bill in favor of civil rights after decades have changed racial attitudes in schools, society and the press, who among us would have had the courage of Charles Pickering in Laurel, Mississippi in 1967?" William Taylor, a civil rights lawyer in Washington who served on the Civil Rights Commission at the time, said, however, that the situation in Mississippi was not so clear-cut by 1967. Mr. Taylor, who opposes the Pickering nomination, said in an interview that by that time, the white establishment opposed the Klan for economic and other reasons. Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, questioned Judge Pickering about his decision to quit the state Democratic Party in 1964 when the principal dispute was its insistence on fielding an all-white delegation to the national convention. Mr. Pickering said at the time that the national party had "humiliated " the state's delegation, the language used by segregationists then. Judge Pickering defended his behavior by saying that "we're looking back to a time, back to 1964." He said his actions "had to do with the perspective of that time." Asked if he regretted his remarks about the state's being humiliated, he said, "I certainly would not make them today." "Do you regret them?" Mr. Feingold asked. "I do," he replied. Judge Pickering was also questioned by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, about his contact with the Sovereignty Commission, which was devoted to retaining segregation and opposing civil rights organizers. Judge Pickering testified in 1990 that he had no contact with the commission but a document disclosed in 1998 showed that, as a state senator, he had asked a commission official in the 1970's to be informed of labor unrest in Jones County. "It doesn't seem like the right place to turn," Mr. Durbin said. "If I were making that decision today, I would not do it," the judge replied. Judge Pickering seemed to wither visibly under the questioning of Senator John Edwards, Democrat of North Carolina, about a more recent issue. Mr. Edwards asked about a 1994 trial Judge Pickering presided over in which a man was convicted of burning a cross on the lawn of an interracial couple with a 2-year-old child. Judge Pickering had opposed the Justice Department's efforts to have the man sentenced to five years as required by the law. He also called a senior official in the Justice Department to complain. Senator Edwards read the canons of judicial ethics prohibiting a judge from making contact with one side and suggested that Judge Pickering had violated it. The judge, who seemed taken aback by the line of questioning, said, "I don't consider it to be a violation of judicial ethics" because he was not looking to achieve anything by his call. Asked why he had called, he said he was looking to express frustration. The committee is expected to vote on the nomination later this month, and staff aides said the outcome was uncertain. RELATED: MAP: FEDERAL CIRCUIT http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sat Feb 9 10:53:33 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2002 12:53:33 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Cover-up of the crash into the Pentagon Message-ID: <007701c1b192$b10aef70$33378d18@Indy1> Very interesting questions and eye-witness accounts surrounding the crash into the Pentagon. I have been asking the exact same questions: WHY HAVEN'T WE BEEN SEEING THE VIDEO OF THE ATTACK ON THE PENTAGON?? There must be hundreds of surveillance cameras in the area!! --Pentagon cover-up: why no video? http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=131871&group=webcast --Was there a second plane flying above the Pentagon? (eye-witness accounts) http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=127953&group=webcast ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ **Very important interview with former German Defence Minister von Buelow** WHAT MATTERS-46 --January 17, 2002 Former German Minister of Defence, von Buelow, attacks the lies about September 11 and says Stop the ?Mad Dog? Zbigniew Brzezinski _____________________ INTERVIEW WITH VON BUELOW IN GERMAN DAILY, TAGESSPIEGEL January 13. Q: You seem so angry, really upset. Von Buelow: I can explain what's bothering me: I see that after the horrifying attacks of Sept. 11, all political public opinion is being forced into a direction that I consider wrong. Q: What do you mean by that? Von Buelow: I wonder why many questions are not asked. Normally, with such a terrible thing, various leads and tracks appear that are then commented on, by the investigators, the media, the government: Is there something here or not? Are the explanations plausible? This time, this is not the case at all. It already began just hours after the attacks in New York and Washington and-- Q: In those hours, there was horror, and grief. Von Buelow: Right, but actually it was astounding: There are 26 intelligence services in the U.S.A. with a budget of $30 billion-- Q: More than the German defense budget. Von Buelow: --which were not able to prevent the attacks. In fact, they didn't even have an inkling they would happen. For 60 decisive minutes, the military and intelligence agencies let the fighter planes stay on the ground, 48 hours later, however, the FBI presented a list of suicide attackers. Within ten days, it emerged that seven of them were still alive. Q: What, please? Von Buelow: Yes, yes. And why did the FBI chief take no position regarding contradictions? Where the list came from, why it was false? If I were the chief investigator (state attorney) in such a case, I would regularly go to the public, and give information on which leads are valid and which not. Q: The U.S. government talked about an emergency situation after the attacks: They said they were in a war. Is it not understandable that one does not tell the enemy everything one knows about him? Von Buelow: Naturally. But a government which goes to war, must first establish who the attacker, the enemy, is. It has a duty to provide evidence. According to its own admission, it has not been able to present any evidence that would hold up in court. Q: Some information on the perpetrators has been proven with documents. The suspected leader, Mohammad Atta, left Portland for Boston on the morning of Sept. 11, in order to board the plane that later hit the World Trade Center. Von Buelow: If this Atta was the decisive man in the operation, it's really strange that he took such a risk of taking a plane that would reach Boston such a short time before the connecting flight. Had his flight been a few minutes late, he would not have been in the plane that was hijacked. Why should a sophisticated terrorist do this? One can, by the way, read on CNN (Internet) that none of these names were on the official passenger lists. None of them had gone through the check-in procedures. And why did none of the threatened pilots give the agreed-upon code 7700 over the [Steuerknueppel: STEERING NOB?] to the ground station? In addition: The black boxes which are fire and shock proof, as well as the voice recordings, contain no valuable data-- Q: That sounds like-- Von Buelow: --like assailants who, in their preparations, leave tracks behind them like a herd of stampeding elephants? They made payments with credit cards with their own names; they reported to their flight instructors with their own names. They left behind rented cars with flight manuals in Arabic for jumbo jets. They took with them, on their suicide trip, wills and farewell letters, which fall into the hands of the FBI, because they were stored in the wrong place and wrongly addressed. Clues were left like behind like in a child's game of hide-and-seek, which were to be followed! There is also the theory of one British flight engineer: According to this, the steering of the planes was perhaps taken out of the pilots' hands, from outside. The Americans had developed a method in the 1970s, whereby they could rescue hijacked planes by intervening into the computer piloting [automatic pilot system]. This theory says, this technique was abused in this case. That's a theory.... Q: Which sounds really adventurous, and was never considered. Von Buelow: You see! I do not accept this theory, but I find it worth considering. And what about the obscure stock transactions? In the week prior to the attacks, the amount of transactions in stocks in American Airlines, United Airlines, and insurance companies, increased 1,200%. It was for a value of $15 billion. Some people must have known something. Who? Q: Why don't you speculate on who it might have been. Von Buelow: With the help of the horrifying attacks, the Western mass democracies were subjected to brainwashing. The enemy image of anti-communism doesn't work any more; it is to be replaced by peoples of Islamic belief. They are accused of having given birth to suicidal terrorism. Q: Brainwashing? That's a tough term. Von Buelow: Yes? But the idea of the enemy image doesn't come from me. It comes from Zbigniew Brzezinski and Samuel Huntington, two policy-makers of American intelligence and foreign policy. Already in the middle of he 1990s, Huntingon believed, people in Europe and the U.S. needed someone they could hate--this would strengthen their identification with their own society. And Brzezinski, the mad dog, as adviser to President Jimmy Carter, campaigned for the exclusive right of the U.S. to seize all the raw materials of the world, especially oil and gas. Q: You mean, the events of Sept. 11-- Von Buelow: --fit perfectly in the concept of the armaments industry, the intelligence agencies, the whole military-industrial-academic complex. This is in fact conspicuous. The huge raw materials reserves of the former Soviet Union are now at their disposal, also the pipeline routes and-- Q: Erich Follach described that at length in {Spiegel}: ``It's a matter of military bases, drugs, oil and gas reserves.''... Von Buelow: I can state: the planning of the attacks was technically and organizationally a master achievement. To hijack four huge airplanes within a few minutes and within one hour, to drive them into their targets, with complicated flight maneuvers! This is unthinkable, without years-long support from secret apparatuses of the state and industry. Q: You are a conspiracy theorist! Von Buelow: Yeah, yeah. That's the ridicule heaped [on those raising these questions] by those who would prefer to follow the official, politically correct line. Even investigative journalists are fed propaganda and disinformation. Anyone who doubts that, doesn't have all his marbles! That is your accusation. Q: Your career actually speaks against the idea that you are not in your right mind. You were already in the 1970s, state secretary in the Defense Ministry; in 1993 you were the SPD [Social Democratic Party] speaker in the Schalk-Golodkowski investigation committee-- Von Buelow: And it all began there! Until that time, I did not have any great knowledge of the work of intelligence agencies. And now we had to take note of a great discrepancy: We shed light on the dealings of the Stasi and other East bloc intelligence agencies in the field of economic criminality, but as soon as we wanted to know something about the activities of the BND [German intelligence] or the CIA, it was mercilessly blocked. No information, no cooperation, nothing! That's when I was first taken aback. Q: Schalck-Golodkowski mediated, among other things, various business deals abroad. When you looked at his case more closely-- Von Buelow: We found, for example, a clue in Rostock, where Schalck organized his weapons depot. Well, then we happened upon an affiliation of Schalck in Panama, and then we happened upon Manuel Noriega, who was for many years President, drug dealer, and money launderer, all in one, right? And this Noriega was also on the payroll of the CIA, for $200,000 a year. These were things that really made me curious. Q: You wrote a book on the dealings of the CIA and Co. In the meantime, you have become an expert regarding the strange things related to intelligence services' work. Von Buelow: ``Strange things'' is the wrong term. What has gone on, and goes on, in the name of intelligence services, are true crimes. Q: What would you say determines the work of intelligence services? Von Buelow: So that we don't have any misunderstandings: I find that it makes sense to have intelligence services.... Q: You don't think much of the earlier proposals by the Greens, who wanted to dismantle these agencies? Von Buelow: No. It is right to take a look behind the scenes. Getting intelligence about the intentions of an enemy, makes sense. It is important when one tries to put oneself into the mind of the enemy. Whoever wants to understand the CIA's methods, has to deal with its main tasks, {covert operations}: below the level of war, and outside international law, foreign states are to be influenced, by organizing insurrections, terrorist attacks, usually combined with drugs and weapons trade, and money laundering. This is essentially very simple: One arms violent people with weapons. Since, however, it must not under any circumstances come out, that there is an intelligence agency behind it, all traces are erased, with tremendous deployment of resources. I have the impression that this kind of intelligence agency spends 90% of its time this way: creating false leads. So that, if anyone suspects the collaboration of the agencies, he is accused of the sickness of conspiracy madness. The truth often comes out only years later. CIA chief Allen Dulles once said: In case of doubt, I would even lie to the Congress! Q: The American journalist Seymour M. Hersh, wrote in the {New Yorker,} that even some people in the CIA and government assumed, that certain leads had been laid in order to confuse the investigators. Who, Herr von Buelow, would have done this? Von Buelow: I don't know that either. How should I? I simply use my common sense, and--See: The terrorists behaved in such a way to attract attention. And as practicing Muslims, they were in a strip-tease bar, and, drunken, stuck dollar bills into the panty of the dancer. Q: Things like that also happen. Von Buelow: It may be. As a lone fighter, I cannot prove anything, that's beyond my capabilities. I have real difficulties, however, to imagine that all this all sprung out of the mind of an evil man in his cave. Q: Mr. von Buelow, you yourself say that you are alone in your criticism. Formerly, you were part of the political establishment, now you are an outsider. Von Buelow: That is a problem sometimes, but one gets used to it. By the way, I know a lot of people, including very influential ones, who agree with me, but only in whispers, never publicly. Q: Do you still have contact with old SPD companions, such as Egon Bahr and former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt? Von Buelow: There are no close contacts any more. I wanted to go to the last SPD party congress, but I was sick. Q: Can it be, Mr. von Buelow, that you are a mouthpiece for typical anti-Americanism? Von Buelow: Nonsense, this has absolutely nothing to do with anti-Americanism. I am a great admirer of this great, open, free society, and always have been. I studied in the U.S. Q: How did you get the idea that there could be a link between the attacks and the American intelligence agencies? Von Buelow: Do you remember the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993? Q: Six people were killed and over a thousand wounded, by a bomb explosion. Von Buelow: In the middle was the bombmaker, a former Egyptian officer. He had pulled together some Muslims for the attack. They were snuck into the country by the CIA, despite a State Department ban on their entry. At the same time, the leader of the band was an FBI informant. And he made a deal with the authorities: At the last minute, the dangerous explosive material would be replaced by a harmless powder. The FBI did not stick to the deal. The bomb exploded, so to speak, with the knowledge of the FBI. The official story of the crime was quickly found: The criminals were evil Muslims. Q: At the time Soviet soldiers marched into Afghanistan, you were in the cabinet of Helmut Schmidt. What was it like? Von Buelow: The Americans pushed for trade sanctions, they demanded the boycott of the Olympic games in Moscow.... Q.... which the German government followed... Von Buelow: And today we know: It was the strategy of the American security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, to destabilize the Soviet Union from neighboring Muslim countries: They lured the Russians into Afghanistan, and then prepared for them a hell on earth, their Vietnam. With decisive support of the U.S. intelligence agencies, at least 30,000 Muslim fighters were trained in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a bunch of good-for-nothings and fanatics who were, and still are today, ready for anything. And one of them is Osama bin Laden. I wrote years ago: ``It was out of this brood, that the Taliban grew up in Afghanistan, who had been brought up in the Koran schools financed by American and Saudi funds, the Taliban who are now terrorizing the country and destroying it. Q: Even though you say, for the U.S. it was a matter of raw materials in the region, the starting point for the U.S. aggression, was the terrorist attack which cost thousands of human lives. Von Buelow: Completely true. One must always keep this gruesome act in mind. Nonetheless, in the analysis of political processes, I am allowed to look and see who has advantages and disadvantages, and what is coincidental. When in doubt, it is always worthwhile to take a look at a map, where are raw materials resources, and the routes to them? Then lay a map of civil wars and conflicts on top of that--they coincide. The same is the case with the third map: nodal points of the drug trade. Where this all comes together, the American intelligence services are not far away. By the way, the Bush family is linked to oil, gas, and weapons trade, through the bin Laden family. Q: What do you think of the Bin Laden films? Von Buelow: When one is dealing with intelligence services, one can imagine manipulations of the highest quality. Hollywood could provide these techniques. I consider the videos inappropriate as evidence. Q: You believe the CIA is capable of anything, [wouldn't stop at anything]. Von Buelow: The CIA, in the state interests of the U.S., does not have to abide by any law in interventions abroad, is not bound by international law; only the President gives orders. And when funds are cut, peace is on the horizon, then a bomb explodes somewhere. Thus it is proven, that you can't d o without the intelligence services; and that the critics are {nuts,} as Father Bush called them, Bush who was once CIA head and President. You have to see that the U.S. spends $30 billion on intelligence services, and $13 billion on anti-drug work. And what comes out of it? The chief of a special unit of the strategic anti-drug work declared, in despair, after 30 years of service, that in every big, important drug case, the CIA came in and took it out of my hands. Q: Do you criticize the German government for its reaction after Sept. 11? Von Buelow: No. To assume that the government were independent in these questions, would be naive. Q: Herr von Buelow, what will you do now? Von Buelow: Nothing. My task is concluded by saying, it could not have been that way [according to the official story]. Search for the truth! * * * From bobenoch at shaw.ca Sat Feb 9 19:45:26 2002 From: bobenoch at shaw.ca (Bob Enoch) Date: Sat, 09 Feb 2002 18:45:26 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Please Support Growing Movement for FULL CongressionalInvestigation Into 9/11 References: <3C6478A0.CED315A4@ilstu.edu> Message-ID: <007701c1b1dc$fefe88a0$61474d18@vf.shawcable.net> Carrol writes: > I won't bother to argue the point, but I want to declare that this sort > of thing is a perfect way to bog an anti-war movement down in a huge > pile of irrelevant clutter. It won't succeed in doing that, but it will > succeed in damaging the credibility and usefulness to the movement of > many good comrades who let themselves be drawn into this abyss of > speculation piled on speculation, of irrelevant fact piled on irrelevant > fact. So, Carrol, when can we expect your denunciation of Dimitrov for foolishly blaming Goering for the Reichtag fire, when everyone knows that Marxists don't go in for conspiracy theories. May the day be approaching when this kind of puerile drivel is no longer tolerated by thinking Marxists. Bob From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Sun Feb 10 10:40:43 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 10:40:43 -0700 Subject: [R-G] NAC under attack: Extremely dangerous Federal effort to intermeddle in Native religion Message-ID: <000901c1b25a$12c9cb60$95a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: This is an extremely dangerous Federal attempt to intermeddle in the religious beliefs and institutions and affairs of Native Americans -- and, like all efforts to hatchet civil liberty, it threatens everyone. Using the flimsy, spurious excuse -- I repeat, excuse -- that a relatively few number of non-Indians have used the mildly mescaline cactus substance peyote for their religious purposes -- or for whatever -- Bush/Ashcroft/DEA now wants to establish a network of control over the entire Native American Church complex [which has a number of autonomous, related branches -- or, to use a roughly Anglo analogy, "denominations" or "synods."] This bizarre thrust by the Bush/Ashcroft administration -- wrapped up in cunningly twisted disingenuous language -- is something not only out of Orwell but is part and parcel of the whole hideous American historical legacy of bigotry and intolerance toward all Native American religious beliefs. It runs counter, not only to the deepest rivers of morality, but also to the First Amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment, the policy thrust of respect for all Native theological perspectives which began with John Collier in 1933, the national Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 [and the intent of the Act's subsequent amendments], and much, much else. This is part and parcel of the whole Bush/Ashcroft authoritarian assault on the deepest civil libertarian foundational dimensions of the United States and all of the people. Not only is the Bush/Ashcroft administration attempting to define what is a religion -- but it's trying to dictate membership policy to private religious institutions! There will be a major fight on this issue for sure. The Native American Church movement is broadly pan-Indian [inter-tribal and transcendent of tribalism] and uses peyote in a very carefully precious sacramental sense. From that perspective, its use of peyote is precisely comparable to the use of wine in Catholic or Anglican [Episcopal] communions or in the Lutheran denominations. Native religious beliefs cover a very wide range: from the respective and pure tribal traditional to Christian-mixed-with-tribal traditional-elements. [My own "Jesuit Catholicism" and that of my family is very heavily mixed with tribal traditionalism.] The Native American Church, whose roots reach back into the latter 19th century, developed in large part as a Native effort to circumvent the constant Federal attacks on all Native traditional faiths -- attacks which continued in full totalitarian force until the Indian New Deal of FDR and John Collier. Some NAC branches admit non-Indians and some do not. And that, and everything else of religious nature, is solely up to the members of the particular church involved. It sure as hell isn't the business of Bush and Ashcroft and DEA -- or anyone or anything else, including any government. Several weeks ago, mid-November 2001, I posted a long piece which dealt in substantial part with the Native American Church movement, its sacramental use of peyote, and a major North Dakota/Federal Native American Church religious freedom case in 1984 -- Warner v. United States -- for which I was privileged to coordinate legal defense. National ACLU provided full support. The case was won -- with the verdict delivered by 12 Anglo jurors [half of whom were Catholic and the other half Lutheran -- and all of whom certainly recognized the precise parallels between the sacramental usage of peyote and that of communion wine.] See that discussion on our Website via http://www.hunterbear.org/alcohol_and_peyote_and_native_am.htm Much, much more on this as we travel along the River of No Return. I remain, as always, an optimist -- convinced that success will be ours in the long run. Hunter [Hunterbear] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- Feds plan to change name of Native American Church and other regulations Wilhelm Murg http://www.okit.com/news/2002/february/nativeamericanchurch.html The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is proposing a change in the language of their regulation regarding peyote use to conform with the American Indians Religious Freedom Act of 1994 (AIRFA). Peyote, which is used by Native Americans in religious practice, is considered a "Schedule 1" drug by the agency, along with heroin, LSD, XTC, marijuana, Quaaludes, and Psilocybin. In a letter dated December 18, 2001, The DEA's Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Diversion Control, Laura Nagel, noted that the agency is proposing to "delete all references to the 'Native American Church' and to 'members of the Native American Church' in the regulation." The letter goes on to state that the DEA "would then add language identical to the language used in AIRFA that protects the use of peyote by members of federally recognized tribes for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of traditional Indian Religion." Nagel's letter notes that the Department of Justice's "protection is not limited to the Native American Church, but is extended to any member of a federally recognized Indian tribe who is engaged in the practice of a traditional Indian religion." The change in the language purports to clear up any confusion in the law. In addition to the change in language, the DEA is also looking into "promulgating a comprehensive substantive rule" that would provide regulatory guidelines for peyote distributors and "members of Indian tribes who possess, transport, and use peyote for religious purposes as permitted by AIRFA." This comprehensive rule would "cover a broad range of matters related to peyote use. Including, but not limited to, establishing how a peyote distributor will verify tribal membership, establishing how a peyote distributor will verify that a tribal member is purchasing or receiving peyote for bona fide traditional ceremonial purposes in connection with the practice of a traditional Indian religion, and providing general regulatory guidance that limits peyote use to its traditional religious use in the practice of Indian religions." The letter solicits input from Native Americans, preferably before January 31. Teresa Murray, secretary of the Native American Church for the State of Oklahoma is opposed to the change in the language and the proposed new regulations. In her written response to the letter, she states "The Christian churches made the peyote illegal for the Native American to use in their peyote ceremonials. They had holy medicine, peyote, classified as a dangerous drug." "It really bothers me because we have the government getting into our religion," Murray told Native American Times. "We talked to some lawyers who said they're trying to make our medicine men like pharmacists, with the peyote under lock and key." Murray's misgivings also come from the language of Nagel's letter, especially in the references to "members of federally recognized tribes." Murray's husband is a non-Indian who is a member of the Native American Church, and she realizes that the Indian blood quantum of her family will be diluted over the generations. Murray's fear is that as more and more Indians are being disenfranchised from their tribes due to blood quantum the religion will die out if only tribal members are allowed to participate. Furthermore, as it is now possible to be a full-blood Indian, but not be a member of any tribe (for example, an Indian who is 1/8th of eight different tribes.) Such a person could face federal drug charges if they were to participate in peyote ceremonies. Murray notes that not allowing non-tribal members exemption from prosecution is a violation of basic freedom of religion rights. That very concept was successfully argued over a decade ago in New Mexico. In 1990, a Federal Grand Jury indicted Robert Lawrence Boyll, a non-Native American member of the Native American Church for unlawfully importing peyote through the United States mail and possessing peyote with the intent to distribute; Boyll went to Mexico to obtain peyote for himself and members if his congregation. In September of 1991 Judge Juan Burciaga, Chief Federal Judge of the District of New Mexico granted Boyll's motions to dismiss on the grounds that the indictment violated the defendant's First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion and also because the listing of peyote as a controlled substance did not apply to the defendant because he is a member of the Native American Church. The judge's decision stated that "'Church' refers to a body of believers and their shared practices, rather than the existence of a formal structure or a membership roll. Membership in the Native American Church derives from the sincerity of one's beliefs and participation in its ceremonies. Historically, the church has been hospitable to and, in fact, has proselytized non-Indians. . It is one thing for a local branch of the Native American Church to adopt its own restrictions on membership, but it is entirely another for the Government to restrict membership in a religious organization on the basis of race. Any such attempt to restrict religious liberties along racial lines would not only be a contemptuous affront to the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion but also to the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal justice under the law." The decision was appealed and upheld in the 10th Federal District Court in Denver. Despite the Boyll decision, another case is currently going on in Utah. Earlier this month, The Utah Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether non-Indians can use peyote legally during religious ceremonies. The issue arose from the prosecutions of a self-styled medicine man charged with drug distribution: James Mooney in Utah County. Mooney is the founder the Oklevueha Native American Church in Benjamin, Utah. He and his wife, Linda, were charged with twelve first-degree felony counts after police seized 12,000 peyote buttons during an October 2000 raid. While Mooney says he is of American Indian ancestry, he can not document his claim. He contends, however, that the U.S. and Utah constitutions guarantee freedom of religion to everyone -- regardless of tribal ties - meaning everyone has the right to participate in the ceremonial use of peyote. Mooney's attorney, Kathryn Collard, stated "It's a terrible irony that a state founded on religious freedom . . .would try to regulate a church's membership." Weber County Attorney Richard Parmley countered that the federal law allowing peyote use was not written to protect religious freedom, but rather to "preserve the unique cultural history of the Native American people." The DEA's Linden Barber, to whom all responses for the purposed change in the agency's regulation are to be addressed, was contacted by Native American Times for comment, but he deferred comment to the public relations department. The Public Relations Department was contacted, but they could not make a comment until they conferred with Mr. Barber. From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Sun Feb 10 13:34:14 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 12:34:14 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Empowerment, Plutocracy Dissolving & Democracy Strengthening Message-ID: Some excellent sites to bookmark & pass along, describing key info & strategies for meaningful citizen empowerment in plutocracy dissolving, public campaign financing, plus establishing democratic mass media and a genuine democracy... http://www.ratical.org/corporations/ http://cco.net/~trufax/menu/resource.html http://www.corporations.org/system/ http://www.campaignfinancesite.org/ http://www.publicampaign.org/ http://www.mediaaccess.org/ (Media Access Project) http://www.mwaw.org/ (Media Workers Against War) http://www.mediatank.org/ (Nationwide, Growing Media Activists Group) All The Best, Rich Go Get It! Send FREE Valentine eCards with Lycos Greetings http://greetings.lycos.com From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Sun Feb 10 15:20:04 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 14:20:04 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Top Pick of Activist Sites, With Key Issues, Prioitized Strategies & Links Message-ID: This is probably my top pick of activist sites, with key issues, prioritized strategies, and key player links... http://www.corporations.org/solutions/ Go Get It! Send FREE Valentine eCards with Lycos Greetings http://greetings.lycos.com From pieinsky at igc.org Sun Feb 10 17:20:41 2002 From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 19:20:41 -0500 Subject: [R-G] September Attack on Iraq? Message-ID: <002101c1b292$0fa7a960$307cf2d0@bypass.com> February 6, 2002 Russian Military Intelligence: The War on Iraq Will Be Launched in September Kurds to ally with the US against Saddam By Vladimir Georgiyev http://www.counterpunch.org/georgiyev.html The US is preparing to launch a series of wars in the Middle East, according to sources in Russia's military intelligence services. This is more likely to happen in September, at the start of a new financial year. President George W. Bush has announced a record level of US military spending: $29 billion has been allocated for combating terrorism alone. This time the Kurds in the region will play the role of the Northern Alliance, which was allied with the US in the Afghanistan war. Preparations for the war are in full swing. Together with other NATO member nations (Germany and Italy) the US has been concentrating its military groups in the Middle East. Thus far, this is being done under cover of back-up for the counter-terrorist operation in Afghanistan. But the main operations in Afghanistan have ended. The Pentagon is unlikely to employ the major part of its forces to search for Osama bin Laden in Central Asia. The terrorists are scattered, and peaceful life now needs to be established in Afghanistan, with the help of the global community. Russian sources report that the US is trying to use the Kurds - who are fighting for their independence in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran - as its main allies in removing the current regimes in Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Since the break-up of the USSR, Russia has retained quite a good network of secret services in the areas where Kurds live in these countries. According to sources in Russia's military intelligence services, the US has already recruited leaders of the Kurdish communists, and nearly finished financing projects to restore landing strips in these districts. Weapons produced in the Soviet Union and in Russia, familiar to the Kurds, have now been purchased for them. It is not clear as yet whether the Pentagon will bomb Iran, Iraq and Syria at the same time, or whether it will start with bombing Saddam Hussein. At least one of the plans reported in the La Vanguardia newspaper (Spain) envisages destruction of Hussein's regime within eight weeks. In the opinion of the newspaper, the United States intends to eliminate the Ground Forces and air bases of Iraq in extensive air strikes, thus providing an opportunity to declare a "popular uprising". Then, a controllable pro-western leader - Khamid Karzay of Afghanistan - will be given the "throne." Similar plans are to be carried out in Syria, Iran and Turkey. Under the bammer of a peacekeeping mission, the US and other NATO member states will settle themselves on Kurdish territory and set up their bases, just as they have done in Kosovo. The Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, its construction financed by the US, will become the compensation for the separation of Kurdistan from Turkey. Such a change in the geo-political environment will take a short time, Russia's military-diplomatic sources believe; just as it didn't take long for the Americans to settle in former Soviet republics of Central Asia. To date, Britain remains Moscow's only ally in opposing the plans of the US. The British government arranges information leaks to the press regarding the "insane" measures the United States is taking in the Middle East. Russia is not taking any measures thus far, apart from providing assurances via diplomats, supporting Syria and Iran with armaments, and advising them on military issues. Sources in Russia's military intelligence services conclude that if the US unleashes a war, it won't be a "joke." The Kurdish factor will be pushed into the background, and the war will be very bloody and fierce for the United States. Russian politicians are reinterpreting these conclusions in their hints. In this connection, statements by Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov - that they do not approve of President Bush's plans to continue the counter-terrorist operation against rogue states - take on a clearer form. (This article originally appeared in the Russian paper Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Translated by Andrei Ryabochkin) From mstainsby at tao.ca Sun Feb 10 19:15:19 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 18:15:19 -0800 Subject: [R-G] =?iso-8859-1?Q?Re:_=5BR-G=5D_Re:_=5BR-G=5D_Today=1B$B!-=1B=28Js_World?= References: Message-ID: <00d701c1b2a1$f45b7dc0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "miyachi" *snip* Lenin or Mao type political revolution may be old. Because > although they succeeded in abolishing capital but failed to abolish money. > To abolish money may be key point of expected revolution, and its > process already exists, for example LETS instead money. Hell, let's just go with the abolition of currency entirely. The labour vouchers in Anarchists Spain were too much for me. I want the abolition of all exchange, like in Democratic Kampuchea (that's a joke). > We learned in school that working-class revolution is differ from bourgeois > revolution in which within feudal system bourgeois matured and leaded to > revolution. Differ from bourgeois revolution, we are taught that > working-class revolution begins with taking over political power. But in > reality, we are experiencing new type society are emerging increasingly > within capitalist system. We may base these new social movements as > revolutionary elements and may take over political power as final action. Can you be a bit more specific? I find that revolutions which try to operate within this society become reactionary and conquered- not the other way around. Macdonald From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sun Feb 10 22:07:33 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 00:07:33 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Sweden is heading towards an indefinite future Message-ID: <01e401c1b2ba$03c703c0$33378d18@Indy1> from www.ontario.indymedia.org article#6937 Sweden is heading towards an indefinite future where justice may have no place Nils Wadstr?m 7:18pm Sat Feb 9 '02 nilsgw at yahoo.com The aftermath of the riots in Gothenburg where three demonstrators were shot by the police, have turned in to a corrupt legal practice which may result in a transformation of the legal system in an unsatisfactory direction, where legal rights of the individual have no place. PLEASE READ! Here is a r?sum? of the situation: (some are quoted from the earlier appeal for justice). ? The preliminary investigation of the shooting of a 19-year-old protestor was cancelled. The investigators could not find any suspicion of crime! No preliminary inquiries have been launched regarding the 12 pistol shots by the police into a fleeing crowd that injured two more people (not severely). ? Of 182 (-and counting!) reports to the police about "undue interference by the police" [mistreatment, beatings, unlawful arrest, etc.], only ONE has resulted in a preliminary inquiry, and only after the severe beating of a defenceless protestor by four policemen was shown on national TV! ?It has been proved on national TV that the police have manipulated a film used in a trial. The prelim. investigation was cancelled with the now standard explanation: "no suspicion of crime". (Proof of crime is not enough for suspicion of crime, as for as the investigators are concerned!) ?Responsibility for the illegal police interventions at the schools Hvitfeldtska and Schillerska (lodging totally almost a thousand demonstrators), where in the first case the school was closed in by freighter containers, stopping the demonstrators from using their freedom to protest in the large demonstration against Bush's visit the same day that gathered 16,000 people - and in the second case the school was stormed in the middle of the night by a special police force equipped with automatic rifles, the demonstrators beaten and harassed, arrested and then hours later released without explanation. ? The sentences for riots have suddenly increased ten-fold or more compared to the legal-usage regarding the same crime before June 2001. Average sentences for riots before June 2001 has been community service or probation to 2 months imprisonment. The average punishment for the riots in Gothenburg has been 1 year and 9 months. In many cases it has been judged more serious than rapes or ill-treatment or even assistance of murder, where the convicted have been soccer-hooligans or nazis. ?In several cases, the accused have been sentenced with identical charges and identical repercussions. All have been charged without their individual actions being documented or taken into account. This lack of individual accountability exemplifies the non-existence of justice. ? Over 50 people have been indicted or await indictment, and many are still suspects awaiting investigation. 350 people were freed from suspicion in December. The incarceration of many of the accused young people has been extremely long (1-3 months). Those incarcerated have been held in isolation cells; 8 youths have been held in isolation-cells for 100 days, forced to take heavy narcotics to withstand ("mental torture" according to Amnesty International.) ? The prosecutors have categorized many legal and peaceful gatherings that were stormed by the police as "riots", which mean that people can't testify of undue interference and mistreatment by the police without themselves risking a charge for "rioting" and several years in prison. THE SCANDAL ABOVE ALL OTHERS The most central process of the ongoing Gothenburg-trials is the one about the "command central". According to the myth created by our media this summer, the riots in Gothenburg were carefully prepared, planned, organized and commanded by a "command central", which directed the "vandals" in the streets. There is, however, a small problem with this conspiracy theory: the persons who allegedly commanded the riots were arrested the first day, and could thereby not have had anything to do with the riots on Friday, which were the most severe. This minor problem in the logics does not hinder that the reason for the ten-fold increase in length of the sentences, the reason mentioned frequently in many of the cases, is the careful preparations, planning and organizing and that they were directed by a "command central". So, what did this so-called "command central" exist of? Eight teenagers in an apartment, equipped with ONE computer and a few cell-phones, and a little apparatus to monitor the police radio. C'est tout. It is fully legal to monitor the police radio, and they did not hide from anyone what they were doing. The apartment was full of people all day long, and there was a telephone list where you could register for cell-phone text messages (SMS) to know what was going on in the streets and where. The 8 youths and probably several others then sent them information about what was going on in the streets, by what they had heard on the police radio and also read on the newspapers website-coverage. Yet the court did not pay any attention to the other people in the apartment or even who did what - they were judged collectively. For what? The district court first ruled: "instigation of riot". The only substantial evidence consists of 5 SMS (cell-phone text messages) sent to around 50-60 people. The most specific and concrete of the messages reads as follows: "People are preparing to defend themselves inside Hvitfeldtska. The police are too few. Everybody go there to help their comrades! Spread the word!" For this, and other much more unclear messages, they were sentenced by the district court to between 3 and 4 years in prison! Since telling people to help their illegally locked-up friends is - obviously - a very criminal act, some 60 brave citizens who, having committed the very same criminal act, turned themselves in at the police station in an act of solidarity. "Should we all spend 4 years in prison?" was the question they asked. After appeals from the convicted, the court of appeal took on the case, and on February 8 the penalties were lowered to between 1 year and 4 months to 2 years and 4 months in prison, and the classification of the crime was changed (!) from "instigating of riot" to "assistance of riot"! The sentence reads: "It is not clarified if those who received the messages had connection with each other or how they acted as a consequence of the messages". The word "scandal" is not strong enough: in the sentence itself, they admit that THERE IS NO EVIDENCE FOR THE CRIME THEY ARE SENTENCED FOR. In other words, the court has put aside the very principle upon which the whole legal system rests: NOT GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE. In absence of evidence, the court instead refers to the political views of the accused and their alleged intentions, based on findings among texts in the computer and "political material " in the bookshell! As the Swedish writer Jan Guillou recently noted; not even under the dictatorship of the Swedish king Gustav III (1772-1792) was it possible to put aside that principle. Although that was mentioned in the context of three Swedish citizens having all their partitions confiscated and their sources of income cancelled because of their "complicity in terrorist funding", on order from the United State's UN-legitimised "terror-list", but that is a whole other story. (Must I mention the US refused to present any evidence of their crime?) Political phoney-trials in Sweden - is it hard to believe? You'd better believe it! THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE SWEDISH MEDIA AND THE SWEDISH POLICE AUTHORITIES The fact that the Swedish media hasn't reported the truth about this should tell you all that's worth knowing about our media-situation. But there's more to know. Did you know that one rich and (by Swedish measures) extremely powerful family - the Bonniers - owns 30 percent of the whole media-market, and that 80% of our daily newspapers are officially right wing? Media have played a big part in the ongoing scandal and bulldozing of legal rights and principals. By consequently excluding the controversial facts from their reporting and actually lying, the journalists have deceived the public and allowed these happenings, for which there are no equivalent in Sweden's history, to pass by almost unnoticed. The journalist either lie or ignore, and the intellectuals seem to be living on another planet. I think even Noam Chomsky would be surprised by the moral breakdown on part of the "intellectuals" in Sweden. The myth about the "command central" is significant for motivating the outrageous sentences. It was created this summer by the media, after dubious information from the police, and with great effect rooted it in the public consciousness. The myth is used to justify the long sentences, and for that reason, the courts will hang on to it till the end, until it gets really absurd (Isn't the court of appeal's sentence evidence enough of this?). Because otherwise, there is nothing motivating them - and then the whole building will crumble down like a house of cards! Our hope is that the Supreme Court will take on the case and re-examine the (non)evidence. If the 8 teenagers are acquitted, this will lead to more cases being re-examined by the Supreme Court. But this requires that the journalists start digging. So far they have only shown their apathy towards justice, their antipathy against demonstrators, and their dislike to kill a myth of their own making, no matter how absurd and false it is. Let me finish by quoting Erik Wijk, the only journalist in Sweden who has examined the sentences: "It is a social contract that is being dissolved. Equality before the law, forget it. A police working for the benefit of the public, really? A body of journalists and intellectuals as a counter-power, what a joke. The photos from the [vandalism on the] Avenue have stuck on the retinas of the Swedish people - they think our vital struggle for justice and legal rights is some kind of defence of terrorists." We fight a more and more desperate struggle. The Swedish people are blindfolded and either rejoice or slumber as democracy and legal rights sink like a battered ship before their eyes. By Nils Wadstr?m, IMC Sweden: http://www.se.indymedia.org PLEASE Sign the petition for justice in the Gothenburg-trials at http://www.manifest.se/upprop/english.html and help the Swedes in their struggle. International pressure will help! www.manifest.se/upprop/english.html ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: LAMZ at sympatico.ca EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84vOj.a94vvj Or send an email to: friendlyanarchistsleague-unsubscribe at topica.com T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================ From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sun Feb 10 22:23:50 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 00:23:50 -0500 Subject: [R-G] G8 2002 in Canada: Get Ready Now! Message-ID: <000b01c1b2bc$4a4842d0$33378d18@Indy1> G8 2002 in Canada: Get Ready Now! Come to Canada in June 2002. There is no more room for reform! To all community groups, unions, women's organizations, student associations and political groups; to everyone who is struggling for social change! Mobilizing against the G8 Leaders' Summit in June Next June 26 and 27 in Kananaskis - a small village in the mountains of Alberta - the leaders of the 7 most industrialized countries in the world will be holding their annual meeting. The summit is considered one of the most important of its kind. This year, the summit takes place at a very particular conjuncture: first of all, for the last three years, we have witnessed an unprecedented rise in grassroots protests against these kinds of economic summits. This global uprising includes rebellions in Ecuador, Bolivia, and recently, in Argentina. It also encompasses the huge demonstrations against the G8 in Genoa, Italy, which resulted in the death of a comrade last July. Moreover, using the pretext of the "war against terrorism", the events of this past September have paved the way to a troubling expansion of all sorts of repressive measures: quasi-fascist laws, a huge increase in the resources of the "forces of order", disinformation campaigns, etc. Finally, the United States is experiencing an economic recession that touches the entire Western world. The "elected" CEOs of the main capitalist countries of the planet are, therefore, coming together in this repressive context with always the same and firm intention of coordinating their tools of oppression and extending their imperialism. These heads of state behave like vultures that gather to share stolen treasure, to the detriment of 90 percent of the world's population and to the total detriment of the environment. For us, the G8 meeting is a singular moment to assert loudly and clearly our total refusal of this economic and social order that benefits a small handful of exploiters. The divide between us and them is larger and larger, more and more distant and, as always, totally unacceptable. As was the case in Quebec City last April 2001, we believe it is necessary to do everything we can to ensure the next meeting of the global leaders of capitalism is also the occasion for grassroots and popular movements to be heard. Actually, the next meeting of the G8 must give rise to a peoples' response as strong as during the Summit in Quebec City. As the CLAC (the Anti-Capitalist Convergence of Montreal), we are now making it our priority to react to this convention of killers. We are hoping to participate in the widest possible mobilization that will reflect the essence of social struggle. Our action plan will be detailed during our next general assembly this March 6. For the moment, we are organizing for two days of anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist actions on June 26 and 27. The city of Ottawa, the national capital of the host country of the G8 meeting, seems to us to be the best choice in our region. It doesn"t lack for important political and economic symbols. As well, its central location has the advantage of concentrating, with the widest solidarity possible, activists throughout the region. Our mobilization capacity regionally is clearly greater for Ottawa than for Alberta. Of the two days of action, the first aims to encourage different forms of protest and revolt. For the second, the priority is on organizing a large unifying anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist demonstration. However, for us, such an event can only take place with the active involvement of interested groups and persons working together in a non-authoritarian way. We will take advantage of the next few weeks and months to undertake an extensive campaign of popular education and of mobilization on the issues of the G8 meeting. By doing so, we aim to oppose capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy and all forms of oppression, while asserting our positive vision of mutual aid, direct democracy and solidarity. As part of our campaign, we will organize our first action this coming April 27 while the G8 Labor Ministers will be in Montreal to prepare for the June meeting. This letter, therefore, is a callout to everyone. In the face of growing misery and the total disregard of politicians, let us make the upcoming G8 meeting a moment for heightened struggle and the consolidation of our networks of resistance. In solidarity, The members of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) Montreal, January 2002 Telephone : 514-409-2049 E-Mail : clac at tao.ca Web : http://www.tao.ca/~clac From mstainsby at tao.ca Mon Feb 11 02:30:11 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 01:30:11 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Iraq Sanctions Message-ID: <00cd01c1b2de$b4590020$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> Xinhuanet. 5 February 2002. Iraq Says Over 15,000 People Die in December Because of Sanctions. BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Health Ministry said on Tuesday that a total of 15,346 Iraqi people died in last December due to the stringent United Nations sanctions imposed on the country for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. In a statement to the official Iraqi News Agency (INA), the Health Ministry said in last December, 7,007 children under five years old died because of malnutrition and respiratory diseases, while 8,339 elderly people died as a result of diseases such as hypertension and malignancy. Iraq says the decade-old sanctions have claimed lives of over 1.6 million people. As an exception to the sanctions, the U.N. oil-for-food program since 1996 allows Iraq to sell oil and use part of the revenues to buy food, medicine and other essentials to offset the impact of the sanctions. Iraq has often criticized the program for failing to meet the humanitarian needs of its people and complained that the severe shortage of food and medicine has contributed to the sharp increase of mortality rate of its people. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Mon Feb 11 03:13:05 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 02:13:05 -0800 Subject: [R-G] AIDS in Russia "scarier than Africa" yet ignored Message-ID: <014501c1b2e4$b24c0a60$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> >From JRL... Macdonald --- INTERVIEW-AIDS in Russia "scarier than Africa" yet ignored By Peter Graff MOSCOW, Feb 10 (Reuters) - AIDS is soon to ravage Russia with consequences that may be even more catastrophic than in Africa, yet the public is barely even aware the epidemic has arrived, Russia's top AIDS official said. After decades of little contact with the disease, Russia and Ukraine have suddenly been caught unprepared in the throes of the world's fastest growing epidemic of the HIV virus. Of Russia's 180,000 officially registered infections, 100,000 occurred just last year. Experts guess the actual number of Russian cases is as high as one million, more than one percent of adults. "Every year, we see the number of new cases doubling. If this continues even two or three more years, we will see not one percent, but two, four, eight," Vadim Pokrovsky, head of the Russia's official AIDS centre, said in an interview. Because infected people do not immediately fall ill and require treatment the disease is still all but invisible, spreading before the public has a chance to see its effects. There are as yet no teeming clinics packed with the desperate and the dying, no armies of children orphaned by the disease or destitute patients begging on the streets. The untreated will not begin to die in their thousands for a decade. But all that is coming soon, and virtually nothing is being done to prepare society for the consequences, said Pokrovsky. "People do not see this danger. Maybe it is because, for so many years we warned them 'AIDS is coming. AIDS is coming'. And it never came," he said. "We expected it sooner. It came later. And now people still think we're just making noise. SCARIER THAN AFRICA Russia's AIDS epidemic is already far worse than in Western Europe and North America, where the disease struck high risk populations of drug users and homosexuals but stopped before becoming widespread among the rest of the public. Just how much worse it will get is not yet clear. It began in Russia among drug users and has not yet spread widely to the public at large through heterosexual sex, as it did in Africa. But Pokrovsky points to sky-high rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, which are signs of widespread risky sex and increase the chance of transmitting AIDS. Russia has syphilis rates hundreds of times higher than in the West. "In this, Russia looks more like Africa," he said. And even if Russia's epidemic stops before it reaches the double digit infection rates in some parts of Africa, the demographic and economic impact would prove even more severe. "In Africa, there are high birth rates, but in Russia the birth rate is low. If we have a rate of only three percent infected, population would fall by six percent," Pokrovsky said. "In Russia, AIDS is scarier than in Africa. There the population is replaced. In Russia it will not be." CRYING WOLF Since HIV patients usually do not require medical treatment until years after being infected, the financial burden of the disease has yet to be felt. So far, the state is treating only 5,000 patients. But to keep up just with officially registered cases, it will have to treat 100,000 in 2005 and costs will explode. As in Africa, Russia will probably have to deny treatment to most patients and sentence them to certain death. Pokrovsky estimates a public relations campaign to curb the spread of AIDS would cost $75 million. But the softspoken, ginger-bearded young doctor has had no luck in winning funds. Not one prominent public figure has acknowledged being HIV infected, though Pokrovsky has treated a handful. His clinic, behind a muddy construction site in a dreary outlying Moscow district, hardly looks like ground zero in the 21st century's most pressing public health catastrophe. "I'm crying: 'Wolf! Wolf!'. And people say, 'That's just old Doctor Pokrovsky." ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Mon Feb 11 14:21:13 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 13:21:13 -0800 Subject: [R-G] CBC: B.C. Town Votes Chlorine Out of Drinking Water Message-ID: <00cd01c1b342$097105e0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> B.C. TOWN VOTES CHLORINE OUT OF DRINKING WATER People living in a tiny British Columbia community have won a decade long battle to keep chlorine out of their drinking water. FULL STORY: http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/02/11/bc_chlorine020211 From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 11 14:28:18 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 16:28:18 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Cheney tour lays ground for military strike on Iraq; Putin: Don't Attack Message-ID: <001101c1b343$05bb5b70$33378d18@Indy1> Cheney tour lays ground for military strike on Iraq (Guardian); Putin: Don't Attack (AP): http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=133134&group=webcast From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 11 14:47:53 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 16:47:53 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Let's go to Guantanamo - Shut "Camp X-Ray" Down ! ! Message-ID: <000d01c1b345$c2e7efe0$33378d18@Indy1> I don't know much about these groups organizing this, but it sounds like a good action to take part in. Stop the torture of prisoners of war! Stop the rise of fascism! Let's go to Guantanamo - Shut "Camp X-Ray" Down ! ! (english) by "Stop The War Brigade" 1:38pm Mon Feb 11 '02 phone: 49 (0)177 481 6128 stopthewarbgde at hotmail.com Call for an international Delegation to converge on Guantanamo to protest and expose The USA's hypocritical and criminal posture vid-a-vis the treatment of prisoners, adherence to international treaties and the right to self-determination among Peoples and Nations. Let's go to Guantanamo - Shut "Camp X-ray" down ! ! "For the past few days the US Military has been transporting suspected members of the Taliban & Al Queada from a military prison in Kandahar Afghanistan to another prison on the island of Cuba at the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay.(That) was leased to the US Government by the new Cuban Government installed after the war between the US & Spain in 1898 which ended hundreds of years Spanish colonial rule in the Caribbean & South Pacific(Guam & the Philippines in particular) and with the loss of their stolen treasures to the US. I watched as the military guards paraded their captives in front of the TV cameras at Kandahar, bragging openly that they had been sedated and shackled like animals. They then dragged them along blindfolded like slaves to Auction. They were forced unto the plane and believe me this was no charter flight to Mallorca. A few buckets were set among the prisoners to serve as toilets. It was outrageous?.. I couldn't escape the irony of the situation. Brown and black bodies being brought to Cuba again. This island used to be the biggest breeding station of slaves in the New World And once more they're being brought by their white masters, the protectors of the "Holy Grail ", to sit somewhere and rot. I sat there and thought of my own experiences for I too was once a prisoner of the US Military. I know first hand how brutal they are. I saw them use the same tactics against their own soldiers at the notorious Army Prison in Long Binh Viet Nam, LBJJ (Long Binh Jail), where I was a held captive in 1968, the first and worst of several such places I would experience. The Daily Beatings, Torture & Terror, there's no other way to explain it. I resisted, I was beaten. I was one among thousands of American soldiers who had experienced this same form of Justice and Democracy. The spectacle of it all, the deceit, the arrogance, the cold-blooded murder. The utter disregard for human dignity........... " Darnell S. Summers, Cologne-Comedia Colonia 13.01.02 The "VVAW-AI" & "Stop The War Brigade" are calling on evreyone to support a delegation to Cuba to protest at the concentration camp at Guantananmo As part of a this delegation the STWB can give first-hand testimony to the history of America's treatment of prisoners of war and in particular the inhumane treatment of tens of thousands of GIs who were thrown into US military prisons around the world as a result of their opposition to both the Viet Nam War and the Gulf War a generation later. While in the Army, Dave Blalock was a prisoner the Fort Jackson stockade before being sent to Vietnam. After his year in Vietnam he became extremely active in the GI anti war movement when he was imprisoned again. he was jailed several times after his military service as a result of his anti war activities and his opposition to fascist Flag Protection law of 1989.(Dave Blalock-right- holding statement signed by G.I.'s opposed to the Viet Nam published in the N.Y Times in 1969) Darnell S. Summers was a prisoner at LBJ(Long Binh Jail)in Viet Nam before being extradited to the US to face fabricated murder charges for allegedly shooting a member of a secret police unit(The Red Squad) in Michigan He was also detained at "The Presidio" in California and Ft. Wayne in Detroit, Michigan. Many detention facilities continue to exist and American soldiers are still subjected to similar conditions. We call on all those who are opposed to this war to join in the effort. We are asking Peace groups, vets organizations, churches, synagogues, mosques etc. to send a representative to the delegation and to support the delegation in whatever way possible. If people are looking for a way to immediately impact on the situation then this is one way. We want to bring world-wide attention to this flagrant and brutal breach of human rights. We cannot just look on and watch as this travesty is perpetrated and tolerated by most of the so-called civilized world. The People who have come up with this scheme are perpetuating the tortured history of the region and the exploitation of its peoples. People streaming in from all over the world to protest this crime will send a message to those who are responsible for the deplorable conditions at the camp and to the entire world.. You can compare the cramped living conditions of the "detainees" with those of the slaves who came to the new world in tightly packed slave-ships centuries before. Millions died enroute never setting foot in the Americas. Most of the inhabitants of the Caribbean are direct descendants of African slaves. The U.S were in effect "No-Shows" at Kyoto, Japan and Durban, South Africa and now they are showing their true face to the whole world. One supporter said that the prisoners were being held in what he could only describe as "dog cages". We want to go as soon as possible. Enough is enough. No matter how many official fact-finding missions they send it's up to us to make the difference. Vietnam Veterans Against the War-AI (Germany) & Stop The War Brigade Hotline: 49/ (0) 177/ 481 6128 Email: stopthewarbgde at hotmail.com STWB http://angelfire.lycos.com/jazz/stwb VVAW-AI http://www.oz.net/~vvawai/index.html www.angelfire.lycos.com/jazz/stwb From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 11 14:55:25 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 16:55:25 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Venezuelan President dismisses revolt threat; rebuffs CIA coup attempt Message-ID: <001f01c1b346$cfe664f0$33378d18@Indy1> Venezuelan President dismisses revolt threat; rebuffs CIA coup attempt by The Irish Times 9:52am Mon Feb 11 '02 (Modified on 11:09am Mon Feb 11 '02) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has dismissed threats of a military rebellion against him; Mr Chavez began a series of popular reforms which gave property titles to urban squatters; a hint that home-grown rebellion may be encouraged by international opprobrium... World Mon, Feb 11, 02 Venezuelan President dismisses revolt threat as colonel brands him a tyrant http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=133124&group=webcast By Michael McCaughan VENEZUELA: US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, joined the chorus of criticism aimed at Mr Chavez last week, claiming the Venezuelan leader had shown "insufficient support" for the US war on terror, a hint that home-grown rebellion may be encouraged by international opprobrium. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has dismissed threats of a military rebellion against him after an air force colonel called him a tyrant then led a march on the presidential residence in Caracas, the nation's capital. Dissident Col Pedro Soto, who accused Mr Chavez of attempting to install a communist regime in Venezuela, has been summoned by his superiors today to explain his actions. "I know the Venezuelan armed forces," responded Mr Chavez, a former paratrooper who led a failed coup in 1992, "I know who is who in the barracks." The charismatic coup plotter subsequently stormed into office in 1998 in a landslide election victory won on a platform of radical social reform. President Chavez has since gone to the polls five times to ratify support for his "peaceful, democratic revolution" which has rewritten the nation's constitution in favour, he claims, of the majority poor. His main critics are church, media and business leaders, while his strongest support lies among the virtually destitute. Last week, Mr Chavez began a series of popular reforms which gave property titles to urban squatters. Col Soto claimed he was an ordinary soldier fulfilling his civic duty to speak out as permitted in the new constitution which places the armed forces at the centre of national reconstruction efforts. Col Soto yesterday announced he would launch "a group of men and women to lead our country toward a better future" joining a dozen opposition hopefuls who demand early elections to test Mr Chavez's support levels. Political analysts believe opposition groups will unite to organise a national strike next month combined with a march on the presidential palace, imitating tactics used in Ecuador and Peru. However, Mr Chavez still controls the streets and the barracks, while oil revenues fuel emergency social spending, keeping him afloat. In his first comments on the rebellion President Chavez branded Col Soto a "traitor" and dismissed calls to step down. "This petition means that there is no serious opposition. It means that the opposition has no leadership, no alternative plan," he said. Meanwhile, the country enjoyed a brief respite from political intrigue yesterday as the nation's annual carnival reached fever pitch with thousands of people on the streets. http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2002/0211/3897367333FR11CHAVEZ.html ? The Irish Times From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 11 19:30:19 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:30:19 PST Subject: [R-G] FBI joins inquiry into Global Crossing - G&M Message-ID: <200202120230.g1C2UJB09925@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 11 19:51:30 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:51:30 PST Subject: [R-G] Infighting threatens Kabul's tenuous grip Message-ID: <200202120251.g1C2pUB22782@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 11 19:55:48 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 18:55:48 PST Subject: [R-G] Corporations overstated profit: study - FP Message-ID: <200202120255.g1C2tmB25600@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From pieinsky at igc.org Mon Feb 11 20:57:02 2002 From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 22:57:02 -0500 Subject: [R-G] U.S. "a threat not just to terrorism but to the world" Message-ID: <000901c1b379$59576900$3d7df2d0@bypass.com> America's imperial war: The liberals who backed the Afghan bombing are now lined up with rampant US militarism George Monbiot Tuesday February 12, 2002 The Guardian (UK) Never was victory so bitter. Those liberals who supported the war in Afghanistan, and so confidently declared that their values had triumphed in November, must now be feeling a little exposed. Precisely who has lost, and what the extent of their loss may be, is yet to be determined, but there can now be little doubt that the dangerous and illiberal people who control the US military machine have won. The bombing of Afghanistan is already starting to look like the first shot in a new imperial war. In 30 years' time we may be able to tell whether or not the people of Afghanistan have benefited from the fighting there. The murderous Taliban have been overthrown. Women, in Kabul at any rate, have been allowed to show their faces in public, and readmitted into professional life. Some $3bn has so far been pledged for aid and reconstruction. But the only predictable feature of Afghan politics is its unpredictability. In the absence of an effective peacekeeping force, the tensions between the clan leaders could burst into open warfare when the fighting season resumes in the spring. Iran, Russia and the US are beginning, subtly, to tussle over the nation's future, with potentially disastrous consequences for its people. In the meantime, 7m remain at risk of starvation. Some regions have been made safer for aid workers; others have become more dangerous, as looting and banditry fill the vacuum left by the Taliban's collapse. Already, some refugees are looking back with nostalgia to the comparative order and stability of life under that brutal government. For the Afghan people, the only certain and irreversible outcome of the war so far is that some thousands of civilians have been killed. But other interests in Afghanistan are doing rather nicely. On January 29, the IMF's assistant director for monetary and exchange affairs suggested that the country should abandon its currency and adopt the dollar instead. This would, he explained, be a "temporary" measure, though, he conceded, "when an economy dollarises, it takes a little while to undollarise". The day before, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development revealed that part of its aid package to Afghan farmers would take the form of GM seed. Both Hamid Karzai, the interim president, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy, were formerly employed as consultants to Unocal, the US oil company which spent much of the 1990s seeking to build a pipeline through Afghanistan. Unocal appears to have dropped the scheme, but smaller companies (such as Chase Energy and Caspian Energy Consulting) are now lobbying for its revival. In October the president of Turkmenistan wrote to the United Nations, pressing for the pipeline's construction. More importantly, the temporary US bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Caspian states appear to be putting down roots. US military "tent cities" have now been established in 13 places in the states bordering Afghanistan. New airports are being built and garrisons expanded. In December, the US assistant secretary of state Elizabeth Jones promised that "when the Afghan conflict is over we will not leave central Asia. We have long-term plans and interests in this region." This is beginning to look rather like the "new imperium" which commentators such as Charles Krauthammer have been urging on the US government. Already there are signs that confrontation with the "axis of evil" is coming to involve more than just containing terrorism. Writing in the Korea Times last month, Henry Kissinger insisted: "The issue is not whether Iraq was involved in the terrorist attack on the United States, though no doubt there was some intelligence contact between Iraqi intelligence and one of the chief plotters. The challenge of Iraq is essentially geopolitical." An asymmetric world war of the kind George Bush and his defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, have proposed provides the justification, long sought by the defence companies and their sponsored representatives in Washington, for a massive increase in arms spending. Eisenhower warned us to "guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist." But we have disregarded his warning, and forgotten how dangerous the people seeking vast state contracts can be. In October I wrote that "the anthrax scare looks suspiciously convenient. Just as the hawks in Washington were losing the public argument about extending the war to other countries, journalists start receiving envelopes full of bacteria, which might as well have been labelled 'a gift from Iraq'. This could indeed be the work of terrorists, who may have their own reasons for widening the conflict, but there are plenty of other ruthless operators who would benefit from a shift in public opinion." The suggestion was widely ridiculed. This week's New Scientist reports that the FBI has yet to catch the perpetrators of the anthrax attacks. "Investigators are virtually certain of one thing, though: it was an inside job. The anthrax attacker is an American scientist - and worse, one from within the US's own biodefence establishment... If he wished to scale up US military action against Iraq, he almost succeeded - many in Washington tried hard to see Saddam Hussein's hand in the attacks. If he wished merely to make the US pour billions into biodefence, he did succeed." Now Bush has secured a further $48bn for the defence contractors who helped him into office, and those who contested the first phase of his war are still reviled, by people such as the British foreign office minister Peter Hain, as "rejectionists" and "isolationists". In truth, it is those who supported the war who have endorsed US isolationism. Hain insists that Britain will use its influence to restrain the "hawks on Capitol Hill", but I fear that Henry Kissinger comes closer to the truth when he suggests that "Britain will not easily abandon the pivotal role based on its special relationship with the US that it has earned for itself in the evolution of the crisis... A determined American policy thus has more latitude than is generally assumed." Jack Straw's newfound enthusiasm for the US missile defence programme (which necessitated, of course, the unilateral abandon ment of the anti-ballistic missile treaty) suggests that Dr Kissinger is rather better versed in British politics than Mr Hain. Over the past few weeks, the men who run the military-industrial complex have shoved aside the government of the Philippines, dispatched 16 Black Hawk helicopters to Colombia, arrested the Cuban investigators seeking to foil a bomb plot in Miami, alarmed Russia and China by scrambling for central Asia, begun developing a new tactical nuclear weapon, and all but declared war on three nations. Yet still the armchair warriors who supported their bombing of Afghanistan cannot understand that these people now present a threat not just to terrorism but to the world. www.monbiot.com From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 11 23:07:27 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 22:07:27 PST Subject: [R-G] Paul Robeson Memorial Concert (fwd) Message-ID: <200202120607.g1C67SB13774@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 11 23:20:36 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 22:20:36 PST Subject: [R-G] Patten lays into Bush's America - The Guardian Message-ID: <200202120620.g1C6KaB21978@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 11 23:33:43 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 01:33:43 -0500 Subject: [R-G] CIA's 'Worldwide Attack Matrix' Of Specific Targets: Bush's Death Squads Message-ID: <009401c1b38f$37a17d30$33378d18@Indy1> CIA's 'Worldwide Attack Matrix' Of Specific Targets J'Accuse - Bush's Death Squads By Wayne Madsen www.NewsMakingNews.com 1-31-02 Today, The Washington Post ran the fifth segment in its series on what transpired within the Bush Cabinet in the aftermath of September 11. Of particular interest is what CIA Director George Tenent brought to the table at Camp David last September 15. According to the article by Bob Woodward and Dan Balz, when Tenent produced a Top Secret "Worldwide Attack Matrix" that specified targets in 80 countries around the world, he sought unprecedented authority to simply assassinate foreign terrorists directly or though allied intelligence services. The CIA even prepared a "Memorandum of Notification" which would allow the agency to have virtual carte blanche to conduct political assasinations abroad. This Memorandum trumped previous mechanisms by which the President would authorize intelligence actions (but not assassinations) through individual Presidential Findings. The fail safe mechanisms established under the administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton were simply erased at the urging of Tenent. In light of these revelations, what was authorized by the President may have led to the assassinations of a umber of human rights and ethnic leaders not connected in any way with Al Qaeda but did represent bothersome roadblocks to a number of U.S. military and corporate interests. It now seems likely, given the unprecedented "license to kill" President Bush granted to the CIA, there was U.S. complicity in the murders of the following individuals. Human rights commissions and war crime tribunals in Belgium and France should take a close look at these likely criminal misadventures: 1. Theys Eluay. Today, the Indonesian army chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, confirmed in Jakarta that West Papuan independence leader Theys Eluay was assassinated by Indonesian Army units after he was kidnapped last November 11. The assassins were members of KOPASSUS, a special operations unit trained by U.S. Special Forces and CIA personnel and was involved in massacres in East Timor during the Indonesian occupation of that country. In 1969, West Papua was formally handed over to Indonesia by the United Nations after a referendum, now widely recognized as rigged, determined that the non-Indonesian population wanted to be Indonesian. Eluay was a thorn in the side of Freeport McMoran, a Louisiana-based mining company that has pillaged West Papua's natural resources and has been accused by local activists of propping up local Indonesian army and KOPASSUS officers with bribes and favors. Henry Kissinger serves as a Director Emeritus on the board of directors of Freeport and former Louisiana Senator J. Bennett Johnston, recently identified as a lobbyist for Enron, serves as a full member of the board. 2. Abdullah Syafii. On January 22, 2002, Indonesian army troops assassinated the military commander of the Free Aceh Movement, Abdullah Syafii. The Free Aceh Movement demands independence for Aceh, a region in northwest Sumatra, and is a member of the non-violent Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), an international organization headquartered in the Netherlands. It has also been at loggerheads with ExxonMobil, which has extensive drilling and refining operations in the territory. Aceh's Governor Abdullah Puteh, who is claimed by local activists to be on the payroll of ExxonMobil, had written a letter to Syafii inviting him to attend peace talks with the government. Syafii's lieutenants claim that the letter contained a small microchip that permitted Indonesian KOPASSUS troops to track him down and ambush him. The operation has all the earmarks of the CIA, which can rely on National Security Agency (NSA) satellites to track such microchip transponders. 3. Elie Hobeika. Elie Hobeika was the head of the Lebanese Forces militia, a right-wing Christian army that was allied with Israel during its 1982 occupation of Beirut. Although Hobeika was in charge of the Christian forces that massacred hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children at the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps that year, he had irrefutable evidence that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had authorized the mass murder in his role as Israeli Defense Minister. An official Israeli commission of inquiry found Sharon indirectly responsible for the massacres. Hobeika was going to testify against Sharon at an upcoming Belgian war crimes tribunal which has already indicted Sharon for the war crimes. It was that testimony that resulted in Hobeika being silenced by a Mossad car bomb that exploded near his SUV near Beirut. The bomb killed Hobeika and his bodyguards. The CIA, now closely allied with Mossad, is said to have given its approval for the action. 4. Chief Bola Ige. On December 23, 2001, Chief Bola Ige, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Nigeria, was assassinated in the bedroom of his home in Ibadan by unknown gunmen. Ige was a leader of the Yorubas, a largely Christian ethnic group that has championed the cause of southern Nigerian Christian tribes like the Igbo, Ogoni, and Yoruba that maintain grievances against exploitative Western oil companies that have spoiled their lands with pollution and pocketed most of the oil revenues for themselves and corrupt Nigerian politicians. Ige was the presidential candidate of the pan-Yoruba Alliance for Democracy but lost to the current President Olusegum Obasanjo, a former general who is thought by many Nigerians to be in the hip pocket of western oil companies, including Chevron and ExxonMobil. A lucrative CIA and Pentagon front operation, the private military contractor MPRI, has been training special units of the Nigerian armed forces. These forces have been active in putting down anti-oil industry protests by Igbo, Ogoni, and Yoruba tribal peoples along the Nigerian coast. Michael J. Boskin, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bush I is a member of the Exxon Mobil board, while current National Security Adviser Condolleezza Rice served on the board of Chevron. Currently serving on Chevron's Board is Bush I trade representative Carla Hills and former Louisiana Senator Johnston, who also serves on the board of Freeport McMoran. In all likelihood all of these assassinations were likely known to the CIA and allowed to take place unhindered. The killings all directly benefitted the interests of the US military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower so poignantly warned us about some 40 years ago. **** I more or less predicted the Indonesian murders a few months ago (just after Tenent received authorization to conduct assassinations of "terrorists") during an interview with Radio Singapore International. The transcript of that broadcast follows: CIA assassination missions - a look into the implications of this US Foreign policy Source: Augustine Anthuvan, Newsline, Radio Singapore International Broadcast date: 30 October 2001 Wayne Madsen, a former Intelligence Officer at the National Security Agency in Washington with this comment. "When Senator Frank Church had a committee in the Senate that found out that the CIA was conducting assassination missions against foreign leaders and they passed very stringent laws against the CIA to prevent any abuses. And now what we're hearing is that the late Senator Church went too far. Well Senator Church was responding to some very severe abuses of authority by the CIA. And now we're hearing basically history is being changed on us here and we're hearing that Senator Church went too far in what he did. And I think its very important now to understand that these things are all in context and what people like Senator Frank Church did in the 1970s really still applies today." If CIA assassination missions are taken beyond the present operations in Afghanistan to other countries where terrorists are known to be operating, what sort of repercussions will this present for country to country relations? A concern I posed to Wayne Madsen. "Especially in countries in South East Asia, we have a President who is very much in it with the US multi-national companies. What if they decide that West Papua independence movement in Irian Jaya - West Papua - could be a terrorist organization. And they could decide well we're going to target their leadership for assassination because they happen to be against the interests of Freeport McMoran - one of the biggest mining companies in West Papua. Or what if they decide that the Aceh movement in Northern Sumatra happens to be ??. to the interests of Exxon Mobil corporation, and they decide to target their leadership for assassination. I think this is the problem with this type of wide sweeping authorization to assassinate foreign leaders. We may find ourselves assassinating people because they just so happen to be against US interests. " http://cryptome.org/bush-kills.htm From mstainsby at tao.ca Tue Feb 12 01:52:00 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 00:52:00 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Millions in Iran Rally Against U.S. Message-ID: <01bb01c1b3a2$89e8e520$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> February 12, 2002 New York Times Millions in Iran Rally Against U.S. By NEIL MacFARQUHAR TEHRAN, Feb. 11 - Millions of Iranians galvanized by President Bush's branding of their nation as part of an "axis of evil" marched in a nationwide pep rally today that harkened back to the early days of the Islamic revolution, with the American flag burned for the first time in recent memory. Amid the dirgelike chants of "Death to America!" marking the revolution's 23rd anniversary, President Mohammad Khatami tried to display Iran's milder face, stressing his government's interest in d?tente. Ever since Mr. Bush designated Iran part of an international terrorist network open to American attack, conservatives in Iran have been greatly buoyed, trying to use a resurgence of disgust with America to quash reform at home, daily denouncing Washington and exhorting Iranians to follow suit. This has made it difficult for President Khatami to preserve his reformist agenda of promoting democracy and rooting out corruption - an agenda he emphasized today before he, too, criticized American foreign policy. "Our policy is a policy of d?tente," Mr. Khatami told the throng clogging all avenues to Freedom Square in Tehran. "We intend to have ties and peaceful relations with all nations in the world," except Israel. Although less strident than his old guard foes, Mr. Khatami suggested that the United States was partly to blame for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "The American people," he said, "should ask today how much of the awful and terrifying incidents of Sept. 11 were due to terrorist acts, and how much of it was due to the foreign policy adopted by American officials." The threat to Iran "originates from the fact that America, or at least some of its officials, see themselves as masters of the world," Mr. Khatami said. "Since they have power, they want to force the world to obey them and exert pressure on countries that disobey. Your revolution threatened America's illegitimate interests in the region, so it is obvious that you are the target of its animosity." After each important line, the orderly crowd burst into another round of "Death to America!" and waved a variety of signs, including one in English quoting the late revolutionary patriarch, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, saying, "The U.S. cannot do a damn thing." The chanting switched occasionally to "Death to Bush!" One man wrapped his white donkey in a hand- painted American flag with "Bush" written on the side, while a truck carried a huge poster mounted with five large close-up photographs of the American president next to five similarly sized pictures of an ape. In his State of the Union address on Jan. 29, Mr. Bush singled out Iran for trying to develop weapons of mass destruction and for its support for groups like Hezbollah that the United States labels terrorists. In addition, Washington has recently accused Iran of sending weapons to the Palestinians, of trying to undermine the effort to build a stable central government in Afghanistan and of helping Al Qaeda members to escape. In suggesting that the United States review its own foreign policy rather than cast aspersions, Mr. Khatami specifically cited what he depicted as the plight of Palestinians denied human rights because of American support for Israel. The threats expressed by Mr. Bush and other administration officials over the last two weeks surprised many in Iran. In some ways, they have united the reformists and the old guard here in criticism of the United States; in other ways, they have strengthened the hand of the conservatives. "Any time we face international problems, democracy stops," said Ali Reza Haghighi, a political science professor. "Now all the discourse must be against the Americans." Mr. Khatami worked to keep his reformist agenda alive. "Some people must not object that we are talking so much about democracy, religious democracy," he said. "The stress on democracy is the soul of the Islamic revolution." Mr. Khatami's supporters had envisioned the efforts to rebuild Afghanistan as a kind of side door to re- establishing ties with Washington, a prospect that alarmed the hard-liners who still control many of the levers of power here. Mr. Bush's remarks thus delighted the old guard, which gleefully presented them as evidence that the American attitude toward Tehran remained unchanged, no matter that Iran helped in toppling the Taliban. The reformists, while critical of America, have tried to suggest that the actions Mr. Bush criticized were the work of shadowy groups within the Iranian elite who want to keep the country isolated and autocratic. Possibly reflecting uncertainty over how to deal with an American- backed government in Kabul, Afghanistan was barely mentioned at the rally. "The Taliban were a major b?te noire," said one Western diplomat. "But now they see a U.S. colony with bases developing in their backyard and they don't know how to handle it." At the rally, Iranians were generally polite to the few Western reporters in their midst, saying things like "Welcome to Iran." But there were occasional outbursts of animosity. "Garbage!" "Pigs!" "Get out of here!" shouted one woman, while a man veered close to say, "I would like to punch America right in the mouth!" at which point the crowd edged in, bellowing "Death to America!" While the size of the Tehran crowd was impossible to estimate authoritatively, the wide avenues and highways leading to Freedom Square in Tehran were jammed with hundreds of thousands of people. Iranian television suggested that millions turned out across the country, showing pictures of jammed streets in every city. Marchers said they were more galvanized than in years past because they felt maligned by President Bush. The turnout also reflected the daily exhortations to attend that accompanied every news bulletin since Mr. Bush's speech. Employees at various government ministries said they had been told to go. The calls to attend did not move everyone. In affluent north Tehran, where one occasionally hears support for the idea that Mr. Bush should carry through with his threat to bomb, cars laden with skis headed out of town toward the slopes. As marchers headed toward the rally, periodically one would step out of the crowd to offer spontaneous thoughts about the day. "As long as our revolution is against America, we support it," said one man, wagging his finger. "The day there is peace between this country and America, the revolution is over." After 23 years, though, the sense of brooding menace that pervaded marches of the past had mellowed. This one felt more like a carnival, complete with a gold coin on offer for the best Uncle Sam effigy. A yellow banner painted with giant letters in Persian was stretched across one overpass. In the early days of the Islamic Republic it would have been read as "America Is the Greatest Satan." But today the lettering helpfully included its own English translation, reading, "America Is Extremely Naughty." ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Tue Feb 12 02:10:49 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 01:10:49 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Israeli expulsion idea gains steam Message-ID: <01f901c1b3a5$2ab58740$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ISRAELI EXPLUSION IDEA GAINS STEAM The Moledet party's media blitz for the mass expulsion of Palestinians is gaining momentum. By Ben Lynfield [The Christian Science Monitor - Jerusalem - 6 February 2001]: Spurred on by public despair, Israeli advocates of a mass expulsion of Palestinians are gaining strength and legitimacy as the toll of Palestinian attacks inside Israel continues to rise. Tourism Minister Benny Elon of the far-right Moledet party this week launched a campaign advocating "transfer," a euphemism for expulsion, which he says can also connote an agreed relocation of Palestinians. In addition to Mr. Elon's push for transfer in a series of interviews on Israel's television channels and in major newspapers, Moledet has put up billboards in Tel Aviv saying that "Only transfer will bring peace." The idea of a removal of Arabs - voluntary or otherwise - is almost as old as Zionism itself, but today it is taking on fresh legitimacy with the collapse of the Oslo peace process and the demise of the implicit bargain of land and eventual Palestinian statehood for peace. Elon says that under conditions of war, Israel has the right to bring upon the Palestinians "another nakba," or catastrophe, similar to 1948, when an estimated 700,000 of them were expelled or fled during the Arab-Israeli war. "There is great disappointment and confusion. People are saying we have had enough, we have seen wars and we have seen the Oslo agreement with all of its bloodshed," says Elon. "I want to remind them of this platform and to remove the taboo from public discussion. It is intolerable that the Arabs should think that, every time, they can drain our blood and then we will negotiate with them." The transfer idea is dismissed outright by Likud Justice Minister Meir Shetreet, who often reflects centrist Israeli opinion. "It is unacceptable to us in every form. We want to live with the Arabs in peace and quiet," he says. But significantly, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has not repudiated the idea of a mass expulsion. Sharon, says his spokesman, would like to expel the Palestinians, but does not believe this can be carried out under the present conditions. "There is a difference between wishful thinking and realpolitik," explains Sharon's spokesman, Ra'anan Gissin. "If the Palestinians would have a change of heart and move elsewhere, OK, but Sharon realizes transfer cannot be done because of the stance of the Israeli public. What Elon is saying is not something that today seems possible." Mr. Sharon appeared to endorse mass expulsions of Palestinians in October. In a Knesset speech, he lauded assassinated Tourism Minister Rehavam "Gandhi" Zeevi of Moledet, whose career was based on the transfer idea, as a true heir of Zionist founding fathers and vowed: "Gandhi, we will be victorious." Ha'aretz newspaper called on Sharon Sunday to expel Elon from the coalition or else be tainted by "the disgrace of the transfer idea." Intensified espousal of extremist solutions on the right is coinciding with increasingly strident voices at the other end of the political spectrum: doves who argue that it is the Jewish settlers, not the Palestinians, who should leave the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They have been boosted by a protest letter from 50 reserve officers and soldiers who announced two weeks ago that they would refuse to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because of moral difficulties with army practices. Dozens more have since signed on to the letter, which derides the fighting as "the war for the peace of the settlements." According to Israeli media, the number of soldiers refusing to serve had reached 147 at the start of the week. A Likud minister, Tzahi Hanegbi, has called for the soldiers to be stripped of their ranks and released from the army. The heightened espousal of the "transfer" idea also parallels a surge of extremism within Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and an increase in Palestinian support for Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement that advocates Israel's replacement by an Islamic state. Mr. Elon is part of a seven-member bloc in the Knesset known as the National Union-Israel Beiteinu, among whose legislators statements of sympathy for the idea of expelling Arabs have been increasing in recent months. Right-wing rabbis allied to the settler movement have also issued a series of writings advocating expulsions and, in one case, levelling entire Palestinian villages as a deterrent to suicide bombings. And within Sharon's Likud party, a plan has been put forward by legislator Michael Eitan to erect high fences around each of the Palestinian self-rule enclaves. "We are not talking about ghettos, people will be able to enter and exit through a security gate," explains Yossi Yair, an aide to Mr. Eitan. Tom Segev, a left-wing commentator, says "the idea of transfer is very embedded in original Zionist ideology and was very much on the minds of some of the fathers of modern Israel, such as David Ben-Gurion. The idea has been very central, but usually it was not conceived of as violent." He says Chaim Weizman, a Zionist leader prominent in the 1930s and 1940s, played with the idea of raising money to pay Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia to take the Palestinians in. The transfer idea receded after Israeli statehood and during and after the 1967 Middle East war there was a sense that the expulsions of 1948 should not be repeated, Segev says. Segev says frequent Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians since the latest confrontation broke out in Sept. 2000 "have made it legitimate for Israelis not only to hate Arabs but to wish them away. I'm afraid this idea does have a chance to catch on." Sharon, he says, "is capable of initiating transfer as part of a war. He can expel whole populations. He will say this is necessary and that the Arabs brought it on themselves." But Hebrew University political scientist Yaron Ezrachi, pointing to the letter of the army reservists, says there is "no way" a mass expulsion could be carried out. "They won't have an army to do it. Even if only 10 percent of the soldiers refused, it would paralyze the army." ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Tue Feb 12 08:11:38 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 08:11:38 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Tigua: High court rejects Tigua stay request Message-ID: <002e01c1b3d7$92d5a4e0$27a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: The Tiguas [ located near El Paso, Texas] will -- like every Native nation, big or small, survive -- as they've survived constant adversity since the 1500s. Much more than that, they, like all Native tribes and people, will fight on -- and on. And, at key junctures, there'll be significant victories -- and new mountains to climb, more rivers to cross. The Tigua situation -- the attack on the casino so critical to their economic health -- illustrates the great difficulty Native nations and people consistently have in what's called the United States of America. Even the most basic pieces of justice often hang high, very high, for Indian people. In addition to indicating the fickle nature of the Federal courts, the crisis at Tigua also indicates why Native people want to avoid , in every case, involvement with the states -- never sensitive to Indian concerns and always hostile and greedy. In this case, on top of everything else with which the Tiguas must contend, they face old-fashioned Texas bigotry -- rank bigotry, bigotry high and bigotry deep. It is not enough to see Native people as "la raza de bronce que sabe morir." We have always known how to die -- ideally how to fight well and how to die with high courage -- but we are all fighting to live and to live well -- to live as we wish to live. The Tiguas will prevail . So will all Native nations -- and most of our Native people. Hunter [Hunterbear] High court rejects Tigua stay request Times staff, wire report [February 11 - 02] http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/0211-tigua.shtml The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to grant a stay that would have allowed the Tigua Indians to continue operating their Speaking Rock Casino while the tribe's case continued winding its way through the appeals process. Without explanation, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy handed down the refusal, clearing the way for a final shutdown of the casino Monday night. "In an era of declining direct federal financial aid to Indian tribes, closure of the casino will result in devastating consequences for the tribe and the surrounding community," the tribe said in a brief requesting a stay of the order to close. "Tribal members who lose their jobs will also lose the protection of 'safety net' programs, such as health insurance or emergency loans." Last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans declined to grant a stay. A three-judge panel of the appeals court had earlier affirmed a lower court ruling that the casino violates state law and must close. That mandate was scheduled to take effect on Monday. The Tiguas are still waiting for a response from the appeals court on their request to have a rehearing before the three-judge panel or a hearing before the entire court. Texas Attorney General John Cornyn filed a lawsuit to close the casino in 1999, six years after it opened. Cornyn's office has maintained that state law prohibits casino-style gambling and that the Indians are subject to that law because of an agreement they signed in 1987 that restored their trust relationship with the federal government. A call to Cornyn's office seeking comment wasn't immediately returned Monday. The tribe has said it is a sovereign nation and not subject to specific state criminal laws. Tribal officials also have said their games of chance are structured so they comply with the Texas State Lottery Act and that they have the right to do anything allowed to the state. Tribal leaders said the loss of the casino, which brings in an estimated $60 million annually, would devastate the community of 1,250 Indians near El Paso. Funds from the casino have been used to build homes, provide scholarships and cover health insurance costs. "Our casino was the economic engine that provided for the welfare of the tribe," Tigua Gov. Albert Alvidrez said. "Eighty-seven percent of our projects are subsidized by gaming revenues ... Everything will be affected." He said the tribe would turn to the Texas Legislature if the appeals fail. "What we offer is legal, and we have the right to engage in gaming activities," Alvidrez said. Meanwhile, the tribe was offering 60-day severance packages to about 600 workers who will be laid off if the casino closes. Most of them are not tribal members. From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Tue Feb 12 09:41:23 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 11:41:23 -0500 Subject: [R-G] IMC SWITZERLAND UNDER FIRE FOR LATUFF CARTOONS Message-ID: <001d01c1b3e4$1b7bfb30$33378d18@Indy1> IMC SWITZERLAND UNDER FIRE by Latuff 6:36am Tue Feb 12 '02 latuff at uninet.com.br Swiss non-governmental organization Aktion Kinder des Holocaust is threatening with legal charges two members from editorial staff of Independent Media Center of Switzerland, an alternative media group formed by volunteer activists, for publishing of material seems as anti-Semitic. http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1025&group=webcast IMC SWITZERLAND UNDER FIRE Swiss non-governmental organization Aktion Kinder des Holocaust is threatening with legal charges two members from editorial staff of Independent Media Center of Switzerland, an alternative media group formed by volunteer activists, for publishing of alleged anti-Semitic material. IMC web site works on the principle of open-publishing, where readers are encouraged to post articles, opinions, images, etc. One of those readers, Brazilian political cartoonist Carlos Latuff, decided to post his serie of 7 cartoons called "We are all Palestinians" to promote International Campaign for Justice for the Victims of Sabra & Shatila. In these images, artist compares the suffering of Palestinians to various oppressed people in history and elsewhere in the world now. Last artwork from this series shows a scene from Nazi-era Warsaw Ghetto, where a Jewish boy says "I am Palestinian". According to Latuff, "Jews from past and today's Palestinians were/are both victims. If today was 1940, I would to say "I am Jew". But today, Palestinians are the victims, not agressors. If you are victim of opression anywhere, then you are Palestinian as well". According to AKdH spokesman, Mr. Samuel Althof, to compare Holocaust with Israel policy towards Palestinians is anti-Semitism. A complaint was adressed to Swiss police and due restrict laws against in Switzerland, IMC web site can be closed and two of their members sued. Criticism to opression of Palestinians by Israel is often seen by some NGOs and mainstream as anti-Semitism, even satires as one broadcasted by Abu Dhabi Television in 2001 of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as a vampire drinking the blood of Arabs. Cartoonist Latuff, who published on Internet a public statement on anti-Semitic cartoons, has called an action against AKdH, demanding suspension of legal charges towards IMC Switzerland. AKdH spokesman, Mr. Samuel Althof: althof at akdh.ch Other AKdH email contacts: editor at akdh.ch die.sprecher at akdh.ch sekretariat at akdh.ch IMC Switzerland: switzerland at indymedia.org Latuff's We are all Palestinians cartoon series: http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=127386&group=webcast From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 12 10:49:36 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 9:49:36 PST Subject: [R-G] Enron Flew Under the Radar - LAT Message-ID: <200202121749.g1CHnaB12382@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 12 10:51:17 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 9:51:17 PST Subject: [R-G] Slobodan Milosevic Is the Scapegoat in a Show Trial - LAT Message-ID: <200202121751.g1CHpHB14047@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From wmmmandel at earthlink.net Tue Feb 12 11:00:14 2002 From: wmmmandel at earthlink.net (William Mandel) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 10:00:14 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Paul Robeson Memorial Concert (fwd) References: <200202120607.g1C67SB13774@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> Message-ID: <3C69582E.AE84DC7F@earthlink.net> You'll find lots of Robeson not available elsewhere in my autobiography, described in signature tab below. I was in the bodyguard at the Peekskill riot against him, 1949; broke the blacklist against him by converting my closing campaign rally in 1950 (I was running for Congress) into a Robeson concert, etc. William Mandel shniad at sfu.ca wrote: > > Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 17:51:35 -0800 > Subject: Paul Robeson Memorial Concert > > My autobiography, SAYING NO TO POWER (Creative Arts, Berkeley, 1999), was written for the general reader. However, if you teach in the social sciences consider it for student reading. It is a history of how the American people fought to defend and expand its rights in my lifetime, employing the form of the life story of one who was involved in most serious movements: labor, student, peace, civil rights South and North, civil liberties (I seriously damaged the Senate Internal Security Committee, the McCarthy Committee, and the House Un-American Activities Committee with spectacular testimonies that may be heard/seen on my website, http://www.billmandel.net ), the RADIO OF DISSENT (37 YEARS ON PACIFICA), with very extensive information on its history) and the feminist movement, although I am male. The book contains some fifty pages on my late wife, Tanya, appearing appropriately throughout the book. They may be found in the index under Mandel, Tanya. My activities began in 1927. I am 84. The book is available through all normal sources. If you want an autographed copy, send me $23 at 4466 View Pl., Apt. 106, Oakland, CA. 94611 ======================================================== From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Tue Feb 12 09:11:07 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 09:11:07 -0700 Subject: [R-G] People-sparse Bush budget -- and Native treaty rights and more Message-ID: <000301c1b3df$e34df320$27a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Comment by Hunterbear -- followed by a newspaper article: Native American socio-economic and related needs in the United States are great [as they are in the entire Hemisphere ] -- and things are certainly not getting any better. I'm dealing here with one sector on a great big front. There are almost 600 Federally-recognized Native nations in the United States, some others that are state-recognized, and still others that, although tribal nations in every basic sense, are not formally recognized -- at least as yet, by either the United States or a component state. The United States 2000 census indicates that there are almost 2 1/2 million people who have Native American as their racial identity -- a relatively fast growing population. The Bush Budget FY 2003 -- minimal as pure hell on bona fide people programs of any kind -- certainly comes as no surprise at all to Native Americans. Or to a great many other folks. For Native tribes and people, government appropriations and funding have always been 'way short of any reasonable reality -- and the last several decades of national administrations, Republican or Democratic, have certainly been a trek on the edges of Death Valley at best and sometimes right through its middle where the only shade comes from the Funeral Mountains. So the current Bush budgetary proposals go hard on most people in the United States -- Native and otherwise. But in matters of this kind, the Native situation contains a special dimension. A very special one. Treaty rights are involved. Not just morally involved -- but very much legally. And the Bush talk about "privatization" efforts in the realm of Indian Education is just plain dangerous. Real Dangerous. I [and a great many other Indian people all through the Ages] have said this before and, because it can't be said enough, I'll say it again: The primary and enduringly strong Native American commitment is complex and tight: it is to family and clan and to tribal nation and tribal culture -- and to the primary "serving the community" ethos. We're vigorously committed to our communally-owned earth and to the careful and respectful usage of all its resources. We're very protective of our sacred places. And we fight always for bona fide self-determination and for full sovereignty. And we fight for all of these critically important dimensions within the framework of the maintenance of full treaty rights -- and vice-versa. It's all completely inter-related. It's super critical to Native Americans that treaty rights be kept absolutely sacrosanct. We want full self-determination and a return to genuine sovereignty -- but all of this has to go hand-in-hand with the full preservation of treaty and related rights. Anything short of that is very, very dangerous indeed to Native survival. Life-threatening. One would hope and expect that all thoughtful, reasonably sensitive folks -- "Black or White, Chinese or Choctaw" -- support a full measure of liberty and a full measure of bread-and-butter for all of Humanity. Native Americans certainly do. But in addition to all of the other sins-of-commission and certainly sins-of-omission in the danger-fraught Bush Budget, we also have -- as we so very often do -- this old and enduring matter of Native American treaty rights. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution -- the "Commerce Clause" -- gives the Federal government, from the perspective of the United States, jurisdiction over Indian affairs. And treaties between the United States government are as morally and legally valid as any other treaties ever signed by the United States with any nation. They all fall into the context of Article 6, Section 2 of the Constitution and thus are part of "the Supreme Law of the Land." Even though treaty making between the United States and the Native nations ended in 1871, the hundreds of treaties with the tribes then in existence continue with full force -- again, legally and morally, right to this moment. "As long as the grass shall grow." And other Federal Native-oriented dimensions -- i.e., executive orders, legislation etc. -- are related to all of this in various ways and fall into that basic context. A major example would be the coming-late United States Alaskan situation which is formally covered by the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. These treaties and related dimensions are frequently under attack and we're constantly defending them via every ethical resource at our command. The treaties are fully valid and generally, sooner or later, all of the components of an "Indian treaty" are upheld on that basis in the context of the United States Federal court system. It can be a very prolonged fight in the Euro-American courts -- but, relatively speaking at least, Native perseverance pretty much wins out in the long distance run. When the United States and its predecessors seized Native land -- often in a blood-drenched context -- they did wind up making certain specific commitments to the tribal nations and their people. The U.S. promised Native Americans land and water and economic well-being, health and education and housing and social services, and much more. And they pledged this, the United States did, via formal treaties and collateral agreements. But, of course and once again, it's always been a fight to make the United States deliver on its promises. What Bush is doing in his minimal Indian funding proposals is moving to violate not just social justice morality generally -- but legal United States governmental treaty and related obligations to the Native nations. And when the Bush proposals regarding Indian education talk about "privatization" -- well, it's time to get out the War Canoes and saddle up Ole Paint and Sharpen the Flint and Put The Feathers On. In 1975, one of the relatively few meaningful Native Congressional victories of recent times was won: the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. This enables tribes to contract with the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and United States Indian Health to take over and operate the respective facilities and programs. In short, the Act promises a significantly increasing measure of Native American self-determination -- within the framework of Indian treaty rights. And where this has been done, it's usually worked pretty well: e.g., some Native schools and health facilities and criminal justice operations. The problem has always been that the Federal government is really, "deep in its heart," very uncomfortable with tribal self-determination [unless it can scuttle and dump the treaties.] So the funds appropriated under the Self-Determination Act, regardless of Republicans or Democrats, have never been really sufficient to run the respective educational or health or other operation with full effective force. For that reason -- that they, the Native nations, can very easily be fiscally cheated in this context -- many tribes have been reluctant to get into direct control and operation under the Act. But that particular Vision -- the general direction of the 1975 Self-Determination Act -- and not the "privatization" so sacrosanct in the reactionary litanies and liturgies of most Republicans and too many Democrats -- is the direction where, however presently clouded, lives the Real Glow of the Sun. The Bush proposals have the usual cosmetic crepe paper to lure the gullible and give a rationale to those in his camp who may have an occasional twinge of primal conscience. In remarks attached to the current Bush budgetary proposals, Administration spokespersons pay a bit of lip service to the concept of Indian control of schools. There is every reason to believe that, given History in general and certainly the philosophical cant of Bush et al., they are aiming -- in their final analysis -- toward classic privatization pure and simple. In short, that means capitalists. And anyone who expects a Bush pet like Congressman J.D. Hayworth of Northern Arizona to fight for Indian interests [or anyone else of "the fewest alternatives"] would be open to the jocular, time-honored Flagstaff fraud of a gunny sack and a night-long "Snipe Hunt" up in the pines and spruce and fir and aspens of the always chilly 13,000 feet-above-sea-level San Francisco Peaks. Up there, you can see five states and Mexico -- but there "ain't no snipe." So if Bush et al. and all "their works and ways" are dangerous to vast Humanity, they're certainly very threatening indeed to Native American tribes and people and interests. [The situation in Canada is very roughly -- I repeat, very roughly -- comparable to that in the United States vis-a-vis history, government policies and anti-Native forces, the challenges faced by Natives, statistics, etc. ] Bush and Forces in their erosion of treaty rights are being very consistent indeed with that old, old goal of the predatory interests that always covet Native land and mineral and timber and water resources. Because, once and again and again, the major powers always -- in both the U.S. and Canada -- that seek an end to the "Indian/Native problem" and consistently yearn for Native American land and resources, are the corporate and land interests and their mainline political allies. No more, no less. This is, again, as axiomatic as the existence of the class struggle. And, just as basic, is the fact that we all have to keep fighting -- organizing and fighting with cunning and determination and militancy -- to safeguard and expand our rights. We have to do this whoever we are and we have to do it, increasingly, with all other oppressed people -- whoever they are, anywhere. The River of No Return keeps going -- and so will we: all of us, the Good Folks of whatever ethnicity. We'll make it. Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] ===================================================== President's new budget offers little for tribal programs Posted: February 11, 2002 - 11:00AM EST by: Brian Stockes and Tom Wanamaker / Indian Country Today http://indiancountry.com/?1013439180 WASHINGTON -- President Bush's new $2 trillion budget provides additional billions for war but no great increase for Indian Country. The most significant additional funding in BIA will go for management of the troubled trust accounts, schools and guaranteed lending. The Indian Health Service gets a five-percent increase for services, but spending on its antiquated facilities is virtually frozen. The budget also heralds a new policy to "privatize" BIA schools, finding non-federal bodies to take over their management in an effort to improve their much-criticized performance. The Fiscal Year 2003 budget supports America's war on terrorism and gives its largest increases to homeland security and the military. However, non-military domestic spending, including tribal funding, is up just 2 percent, barely above the rate of inflation. The overall budget projects a $106 billion deficit for FY2002 and an $80 billion deficit for FY2003, while also proposing nearly a trillion dollars in tax cuts over ten years. When it comes to funding for Indian Country, only a few bright spots appear. Under the Department of Interior's $10.2 billion budget, the BIA request includes $1.8 billion for the operation of Indian programs, a $59.2 million increase over FY2002. The most significant proposed BIA increases are targeted for trust management activities, school operations and the Indian Guaranteed Loan Program. For the Indian Health Service, the budget includes $2.5 billion for Indian health services, a $124 million increase over current levels, along with $370 million for IHS facilities, an increase of less than $1 million. For trust management and reform, the budget contains an $84 million increase for trust-related activities. This includes a $49 million increase for the Office of Special Trustee and a $35 million increase for BIA trust program operations and services at BIA headquarters, regional and tribal levels. While interested in any increase, tribal leaders see this proposal as a "drop in the bucket" in light of Interior's problems with trust reform. "Secretary Norton may be excited to announce this new increase in funding for trust reform, but there are a lot of other areas that need to be addressed," said Tex Hall, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota and president of the National Congress of American Indians. "To me, that's a very small portion of what it should be. The tribes were never consulted about the budget, even when it came to the trust reform issues. Is it that Interior only responds to areas where they're feeling the heat?" In the budget document, the White House itself criticized Interior for its poor track record on trust reform. "Due to problems with its tribal trust accounting, DOI cannot provide assurances that its trust management systems and internal controls meet federal standards," wrote the White House Office of Management and Budget. Indian education programs under the BIA also received shocking news. While funding for school operations did increase by $18.8 million, the budget cited poor academic performances at BIA schools and proposed to "reevaluate BIA's role in the education of American Indian students." It said that the BIA would hold tribal consultation sessions and then solicit private entities to manage BIA schools that do not elect to contract themselves through self-determination grants. Neal McCaleb, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said that the budget earmarks nearly $12 million to encourage the privatization effort. Part of the money will be used to encourage tribes to assume control of Indian schools and to hire experts to improve student performance. "I don't want to say it's desperation, but we're at the lowest level and if you're ready to try, it's incumbent on us to try different efforts," he said. Regarding education, at least one congressman believes the proposed budget deserves an "A" grade. "This budget proposes the financial resources our schools must have to breathe life into the historic education reforms we enacted last year," said Rep. J. D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., in a Feb. 6 news release. "Of particular importance to Arizonans, because of the high value we place on educational freedom, the president's budget includes strong support for charter schools and school choice for students trapped in failing schools." The congressman did not specifically mention American Indian schools in the news release. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., was unimpressed by the Indian education spending, however. In his own Feb. 6 news release, he said that the proposed $120 million for school construction and $168 million for maintenance and repairs was a $15 million decrease from the year before. The appropriation for tribal colleges, $39.1 million, was a $2 million decrease from the previous budget, he said. Daschle also criticized the $646.6 million allocation for tribal housing authorities, which he called a $3 million decrease in funds for the construction and maintenance of affordable low-income housing. He attacked what he called a 16 percent decrease in funding for IHS facilities, including clinics and ambulance shelters, and the "complete elimination" of funding for construction of detention facilities. "Several aspects of the President's proposed budget fail to address many of the issues Indian Country is facing," he said. "While I applaud the President for providing an overall increase in the BIA's budget, his decision to decrease funding for tribal colleges, hospital construction, and low-income housing, and his complete elimination of a promising law enforcement program is extremely troubling." Daschle touched on the sore spot of consultation, saying he was "concerned" that the Administration floated several major ideas without first involving the tribes and Congress. He singled out the "measure that would privatize BIA schools performing below their public school counterparts, and an initiative to completely restructure the Indian Health Service. " Where the Administration has touted its intent to improve Indian schools, talk of reforming the IHS has been decidedly low-key. On Jan. 9, President Bush signed the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001." In general, this legislation gives greater accountability to BIA-funded and operated schools concerning student progress and academic achievement and more access to and greater flexibility in using federal education funds. "Like their peers, Indian students deserve a good education and must have access to good schools," said Neal A. McCaleb, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, at the time. "By his action today, the President has assured Indian Country's parents that BIA-funded schools will be held accountable for the quality and success of the education services they provide." Part D of the Jan. 9 legislation, the "Native American Education Improvement Act of 2001," deals specifically with making BIA-funded schools more accountable. Of more immediate significance to Indian Country, this act: Mandates that all BIA-funded schools either be accredited or candidates for such within two years of enactment; Calls for a report on the establishment of a tribal accreditation agency for BIA-funded schools; Increases funds schools can receive at the beginning of each school year; Consolidates all BIA personnel and support services directly and substantially involved in education within the Office of Indian Education programs; and Authorizes a demonstration project to integrate Federal education and related services provided to Indian students with streamlined reporting requirements. The President's new FY2003 budget must be approved by both the House and Senate and may undergo many changes before it reaches its final form. The budget approval deadline is Sept. 30. The federal government's 2003 fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, 2002. From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Wed Feb 13 08:54:28 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 10:54:28 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Part 4 of VisionTV's "The Great Deception" Questions Bush Admin's Link to Big Oil and 9/11 Message-ID: <006501c1b4a6$b7c42360$33378d18@Indy1> Full Feature Article on All of VisionTV's The Great Deception Series With Links to More Articles and Websites can be found here: http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=972&group=webcast Please send messages of support to VisionTV for asking these crucial questions on national and satellite television. Tune in next week for Part Five of Zwicker's ongoing series of commentaries February 11th Program George W. Bush and the Oiligarchy VisionTV's fourth look at The Great Deception concentrated on the Bush administration and its direct ties to the oil industry. With the peaking of oil production only a few years off, host Barry Zwicker asked whether the present structure of Bush's cabinet has anything to do with the present campaign to control the world's resources. Zwicker asks, "So just who are these people?": -George W. Bush was CEO of Harken Energy -George H. W. Bush is on the board of directors at the Carlyle Group which is heavily invested in oil and weapons, and is involved with the Bin Laden family. -Dick Cheney is a former CEO of Halliburton Oil. -Donald Evans, Bush's Commerce Secretary, was with Colorado Oil's Tom Brown Inc.. -Zalmay Khalilzad, previous aide to Unocal, created Unocal's risk analysis on its proposed Afghan gas pipeline, and is now the liaison to the new Afghan leader Hamed Karzai, also a former consultant to Unocal. -Condoleeza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, served as Chevron Corporation's principal expert on Kazakhstan while on their board directors. To all of these telling facts, Zwicker adds, "A General Motors president once said: 'Structure is strategy in slow motion.' The structure of this cabinet shows, in my opinion, the primacy of oil interests." Read the transcript from this program. Click here for rebroadcast times of this program. Full Feature Article on All of VisionTV's The Great Deception Series can be found here: http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=972&group=webcast From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 13 10:06:55 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 9:06:55 PST Subject: [R-G] Final Solution in the Occupied Territories - Ed Herman Message-ID: <200202131706.g1DH6tB09882@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 13 10:17:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 9:17:14 PST Subject: [R-G] Aussie government admits it broke spying rules in labour fight Message-ID: <200202131717.g1DHHEB18497@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 13 10:19:10 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 9:19:10 PST Subject: [R-G] US wants to set limit to war crimes tribunal - Guardian Message-ID: <200202131719.g1DHJAB20250@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 13 10:32:54 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 9:32:54 PST Subject: [R-G] Tricky Dick II - The Nation Message-ID: <200202131732.g1DHWsB02152@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From aaron at istop.com Wed Feb 13 14:06:23 2002 From: aaron at istop.com (aaron at istop.com) Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2002 16:06:23 -0500 (EST) Subject: [R-G] another occupation!!!! Message-ID: <20020213210623.49D331703B@ns.istop.com> PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!!!!! Sixteen BC students have occupied premier Gordon Campbell's constituency office in West Vancouver not even twenty-four hours after the BC Liberals announced their plans to end the six-year tuition freeze in BC and fully to deregulate ALL tuition of ALL programs. The occupiers come from Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, and Emily Carr College. They are demanding a conference call with Gordon Campbell to demand the withdrawal of any plans to deregulate any programs and to maintain the six-year freeze of all tuition fees (the Liberals are claiming they aren't really ending the freeze but rather are merely restoring to the universities themselves the autonomy to set their own fees as they see fit). BC enjoys the second lowest tuition fees in Canada and has seen enrolment increase while it's declined in the rest of the country. PLEASE SEND MESSAGES OF SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY A.S.A.P.!!!!!! All messages may be sent to Mark Veerkam at the Simon Fraser Student Society office: Phone: 604.268.6565; Fax: 604.291.5843; E-mail: mveerkam at sfu.ca. Please find attached a solidarity petition for distribution on your campus. The following is just a quick backgrounder on what the freeze has meant for students in BC over the last six years: Dear Member Locals, Today, the BC government formally announced its intention to de-regulate tuition fees in the upcoming session of the legislature. The next session starts tomorrow. Please check your email boxes regularly tomorrow and Wednesday for updates, as we may be required to send letters ASAP. Quick facts on the freeze in British Columbia: 1. Tuition fees have been frozen in British Columbia steadily since 1995. 2. During the first three years of the tuition fee freeze in British Columbia, enrolment increased by 6.4% while in the rest of the country enrolment decreased by 2.7%. 3. BC tuition fees are the second lowest in the country and BC ranks second in provincial participation rates. 4. Only Quebec has lower tuition fees: in Quebec, tuition fees have been frozen for all but five of the last 30 years, and the first years of higher education are provided free through CEGEPs. In 1995-96, the Quebec participation rate was 50.2% while at the same time, the average participation rate for the rest of Canada was 36.9%. 5. The freeze on tuition fees has been the single most popular government policy over the past ten years. The policy freezing tuition fees has polled highest of all BC government initiatives. In solidarity, Pam Frache, Ontario Campaigns and Government Relations Coordinator, Canadian Federation of Students Petition (as text): STOP ALL DEREGULATION! MAINTAIN THE FREEZE! SUPPORT THE BC OCCUPIERS! To Premier Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals: We, the undersigned, fully support the BC students who have occupied Gordon Campbell's constituency office to demand an end to tuition fee deregulation and to demand the restoration of a freeze on all tuition fee increases. Students in BC enjoy the second lowest tuition fees in Canada as well as the second highest participation rate. Deregulation in Ontario shows that increased tuition fees do not improve the quality of education; Ontario spends the lowest amount on education per student in all of North America (except for Texas) and has one of the worst student/faculty ratios in the country. Deregulated programs in Ontario have seen fees increase by as much as 40%-700% in under four years. Deregulation only opens the door to full privatisation of post-secondary education: as students are forced to pay more, governments begin to pay less--until they pay nothing at all and students cover the full cost. Therefore, we demand that Gordon Campbell meet immediately with the BC occupiers, withdraw any plans to deregulate any programs in BC, and restore the six-year freeze of all tuition fees in BC. Name: Address: Signature: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Send messages of support to: Fax: 604.291.5843; E-mail: mveerkam at sfu.ca; Phone: 604.268.6565. From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Thu Feb 14 08:03:22 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 10:03:22 -0500 Subject: [R-G] IMF, USAID, & Afghanistan (by George Monbiot) Message-ID: The Guardian (London) February 12, 2002 SECTION: Guardian Leader Pages, Pg. 17 LENGTH: 1192 words HEADLINE: Comment & Analysis: America's imperial war: The liberals who backed the Afghan bombing are now lined up with rampant US militarism BYLINE: George Monbiot ...On January 29, the IMF's assistant director for monetary and exchange affairs suggested that the country should abandon its currency and adopt the dollar instead. This would, he explained, be a "temporary" measure, though, he conceded, "when an economy dollarises, it takes a little while to undollarise". The day before, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development revealed that part of its aid package to Afghan farmers would take the form of GM seed. Both Hamid Karzai, the interim president, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy, were formerly employed as consultants to Unocal, the US oil company which spent much of the 1990s seeking to build a pipeline through Afghanistan. Unocal appears to have dropped the scheme, but smaller companies (such as Chase Energy and Caspian Energy Consulting) are now lobbying for its revival. In October the president of Turkmenistan wrote to the United Nations, pressing for the pipeline's construction. More importantly, the temporary US bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Caspian states appear to be putting down roots. US military "tent cities" have now been established in 13 places in the states bordering Afghanistan. New airports are being built and garrisons expanded. In December, the US assistant secretary of state Elizabeth Jones promised that "when the Afghan conflict is over we will not leave central Asia. We have long-term plans and interests in this region."... -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From mstainsby at tao.ca Thu Feb 14 14:16:08 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:16:08 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Queery for the Aussies... Message-ID: <00ad01c1b59c$d2f3c040$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> How does this article compare to how you see the fight for refugee defense? It is very difficult to approach this issue here in Vancouver, where a racist hysteria was whipped up in the last three or so years after some Chinese people landed here after getting into cargo holds (etc) to get onto the continent; many died yet the outcry was such that I heard one person confidently and comfortably say that he wouldn't mind taking a machine gun to them. The beautiful peacekeeping Canadian is a lie, and a gross one at that. Scratch a Canadian WASP and find something that will defend privilege no matter what. The racist backlash against all immigrants now includes a viciously tighter refugee policy (guaranteeing more dangerous boatloads of impoverished peoples desperately trying to get in the illegal way- how many terrorists[sic] actually come in the refugee route?). This will make the detainees get harsher and harsher treatment and less and less will be afforded the right to entrance. This will be tacitly supported by the population here. Macdonald http://www.greenleft.org.au ----------------------------------------------------------------- Featured this week: HOWARD's ANTI-REFUGEE POLICY CAN BE DEFEATED While public criticism of its policy of mandatory detention of refugees grows, the Howard government claims it will not back down. Green Left Weekly explains how the government can be forced to abandon its anti-refugee policy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SNIP ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 14:38:32 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:38:32 PST Subject: [R-G] America's Imperial War - George Monbiot Message-ID: <200202142138.g1ELcWB23665@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 14:41:34 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:41:34 PST Subject: [R-G] Japan the Asian Argentina? Asia Times Online Message-ID: <200202142141.g1ELfYB26719@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 14:44:17 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:44:17 PST Subject: [R-G] Israeli Reservists Show Uncommon Bravery Message-ID: <200202142144.g1ELiHB29403@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 14:47:54 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:47:54 PST Subject: [R-G] Argentina's Rebellion in the Neighborhoods Message-ID: <200202142147.g1ELlsB03161@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 14:46:13 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 13:46:13 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush Blunder Shows It's Time for Dissent - Robert Kuttner Message-ID: <200202142146.g1ELkDB01316@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From rich.wenzel at lycos.com Thu Feb 14 15:57:35 2002 From: rich.wenzel at lycos.com (Richard Wenzel) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 14:57:35 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Bush/Big Oil's Plan to Attack Iraq Could Have Grave Consequences - Boston Globe Message-ID: I apologize for the cross-posting, but you'd want to see this article. The Boston Globe February 13, 2002 Bush Blunder Shows It's Time for Dissent The Bush administration has framed the security threat so broadly as to yield what every quasi-dictator craves - a state, seemingly, of permanent low-level warfare that frightens the citizenry and trumps dissent. by Robert Kuttner AFTER SEPT. 11, nearly all Americans rallied round our president. The act was so barbaric that we had little choice. Yet some of us supported military action against the Taliban with grave forebodings. Among our concerns were these: Treating the World Trade Center attacks as an act of war rather than a criminal conspiracy would have global and domestic repercussions that could not easily be foreseen or contained. One worry was wider war. Another was the risk of civilian casualties and political chaos in Afghanistan and elsewhere in South Asia. Another was the effect on the fragile Arab-Israeli peace process. Another was the erosion of civil liberty and tolerance at home. Still another concern was that the Bush administration would wrap itself in the patriotic glow and ram through a domestic program that never would have commanded majority support on Sept. 10 and that America, after enlisting allies for a quick military campaign, would soon revert to dangerous unilateralism. Much of this has come to pass. Though the war itself yielded a swift military victory against the Taliban, the aftermath vindicates many of our doubts about policies foreign and domestic. Most European Nations, Russia & China have all strongly cautioned the US to not atack Iraq - that it could have grave consequences. America has not yet attacked Baghdad, but influential people in the administration think we should. Leaked Pentagon documents indicate that the US military is currently planning an Iraqi invasion for sometime next Fall. The Bush administration has framed the security threat so broadly as to yield what every quasi-dictator craves - a state, seemingly, of permanent low-level warfare that frightens the citizenry and trumps dissent. Now, emboldened by military triumph and by bloated public opinion polls, President Bush has stumbled. By lumping Iraq, Iran, and North Korea together with Al Qaeda as an ''axis of evil,'' Bush has managed to create an equally improbable axis of worry about America's reliability if not our sanity. As a Frenchman, Antoine Boulay, famously said after zealous revolutionaries executed a popular duke, this was ''worse than a crime; it was a blunder.'' Blunder comes from swagger. Not only has Bush set back the process of detente in Korea; he has done something the ayatollahs were unable to do - given new life to the anti-American hard-liners in Iran. These nations are not even allies, much less an ''axis.'' When Bill Clinton left office, Iran was gradually liberalizing and North Korea was on the verge of negotiating peace with South Korea. Just as we can't practically ''nation build'' every benighted society on earth, we can't costlessly blow away every dictator. Nor can we lead an alliance if we are terrifying our allies. Since Sept. 11, the general assumption has been that Bush is untouchable on foreign policy but politically vulnerable on the economy. Both premises need drastic revision. In truth, the Democrats have been remarkably feeble about challenging Bush's domestic priorities. Until the opposition party grows some spine, his program, unpopular as it is, will win by default. And now that the shooting war in Afghanistan is over, it's time for Congress to revoke George W. Bush's free pass on foreign policy as well. The axis-of-evil declaration, at last, has a few brave souls in Congress voicing some doubts. Several moderate Democrats have publicly objected. Democratic Representative Jim Moran of Virginia called it ''reckless,'' according to Roll Call. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska chided the president for not following his hero Teddy Roosevelt's dictum to speak softly and carry a big stick. Bush's plans for the post-military phase of the campaign against terrorism are fair game for debate, and there's plenty more to challenge. The Afghan operation was brief and relatively inexpensive. So why is the Pentagon getting a blank check? Why, with the surplus gone and the budget in deficit, are we still giving the richest 1 percent of Americans a tax cut that will imperil Social Security? Why, when even President Bush says Americans deserve secure health care, is his budget cutting hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare? The Taliban is gone, yet the world is, if anything, a more dangerous place. America today is less free and not noticeably more secure. Are we truly pursuing the best course? For all the commentary about how much George W. Bush has grown in office, there is still reason to worry about how well he understands geo-politics and how clearly he thinks when he is momentarily untethered from the adults around him. In a democracy, even a president with 83 percent approval ratings is not beyond challenge. The remarkably foolish axis-of-evil comment - Bush's own idea - should remind us that this president does not walk on water. The Afghan emergency is over; so is the moratorium on dissent. Robert Kuttner's is co-editor of The American Prospect. His column appears regularly in the Globe. _______________________________________________ Rad-Green mailing list Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Check out Cupid School where you will learn from Matchmaker's best and brightest. Good Luck! http://ecard.matchmaker.com/cupid0202/cupid0202.html From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 17:12:01 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 16:12:01 PST Subject: [R-G] Can the US be defeated? The Guardian Message-ID: <200202150012.g1F0C1B26853@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 17:22:46 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 16:22:46 PST Subject: [R-G] The growing Israeli peace movement Message-ID: <200202150022.g1F0MkB05424@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 14 17:30:41 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 16:30:41 PST Subject: [R-G] Behind the B.C. throne - Maclean's Message-ID: <200202150030.g1F0UfB12486@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From mstainsby at tao.ca Thu Feb 14 21:47:34 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2002 20:47:34 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Milosevic Begins Criminal Defense by Assailing NATO Message-ID: <001501c1b5db$e5dcc280$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> February 15, 2002 New York Times Milosevic Begins Criminal Defense by Assailing NATO By IAN FISHER and MARLISE SIMONS THE HAGUE, Feb. 14 - A driven and indignant Slobodan Milosevic today laid blame for a decade of carnage in the Balkans on everyone but himself, waving away charges that he was responsible for war crimes in four words: "It is all lies." "The real crime," he added, "was the killing of Yugoslavia and crucifying me here." In a dramatic and tense four-hour statement, Mr. Milosevic, largely unpopular at home, seemed to seize a new political mission in his trial here: to defend himself, and fellow Serbs, by attacking NATO and casting himself as an antiglobalist hero resisting the double standards of the world's powers. He even turned President Bush's epithet - "evil- doers" - back onto the West. "The Americans go right to the other side of the globe to fight against terrorism - Afghanistan a case in point," Mr. Milosevic told his judges, with finger jabs and a confidence that left no doubt that this is a man used to his authority. "And that is considered to be logical and normal. Whereas here the struggle against terrorism, in the heart of one's own country, in one's own home is considered to be a crime." The first head of state to be tried for war crimes, Mr. Milosevic today also turned much conventional history on its head. He denied that his troops killed thousands of civilians in Kosovo in 1999, as prosecutors in the United Nations tribunal allege, saying they only fought a war against Albanian separatist "terrorists." Civilian killings in Kosovo, he said, were carried out by ethnic Albanian rebels or by NATO planes, which bombed Serbia and Kosovo for 78 days in 1999. He also engaged in a duel of images, producing photographs and videos even more ghastly than those shown by prosecutors earlier this week, this time of the victims of NATO airstrikes. At his request, courtroom monitors flashed images of bombed sites, charred and mangled bodies and severed human limbs and heads. "The bombing of civilian targets was merciless," he said solemnly. "The more suffering of civilians, the better." For his indictments accusing him of crimes in three wars, he showed only contempt, describing them variously as a "terrible fabrication," a "nebulous construction" and a "miserable opus." Court officials said they had expected Mr. Milosevic to focus on NATO, since that had been the underlying theme of earlier outbursts in the court. During Mr. Milosevic's speech, which was well-prepared, delivered in Serbian and is to continue on Friday, Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor, occasionally shot a smile at other prosecutors in apparent incredulity. Ms. Del Ponte's spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, said that however awful the civilian deaths caused by NATO, "what he presented today was not a defense." In the spectators' gallery, Nekibe Kelmendi watched, pale and tense, appalled at Mr. Milosevic's version of the truth. Her husband, a prominent human rights lawyer, and their two sons were found dead in Kosovo at the start of the war after being arrested by Serbian secret police. "I feel sick to my stomach listening to all his lies," said Ms. Kelmendi, a judge who served as minister of justice for Kosovo after the war. "When I look at Milosevic, I see a killer." Mr. Milosevic, the leader of the Serbs for 13 years, is charged with genocide against Bosnian Muslims in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, from 1992 to 1995, and with other crimes from the wars in Croatia in 1991 and Kosovo in 1999. The first part of the trial is devoted to Kosovo - an order that gave Mr. Milosevic the opportunity to focus his own attack on NATO. In earlier court appearances, he said he did not recognize the tribunal and therefore would not appoint lawyers to defend him. But after his speech today, a more immediate reason emerged: he clearly wanted to speak for himself. With today's session, the third day of a trial that may last two years, he also achieved what had been his goal since his arrival in The Hague in June: the transformation of the courtroom into his political platform. Seated in a navy suit and a tie with the red, white and blue colors of the Serbian flag, Mr. Milosevic made his case by working his way down a stack of papers several inches high. Almost surely aware that his trial is drawing a fascinated television audience at home among admirers and victims, Mr. Milosevic seemed to be largely addressing Serbs, casting himself as fighter and victim against forces far larger than himself, a recurring theme in Serbian history. "There is not a single element of a fair trial or of equality between these parties," he complained. "There is an enormous apparatus on one side," he said. "Everything is at your disposal. What is on my side? I only have a public telephone booth in the prison." The trial is being covered extensively in Yugoslavia, and even his opponents in Serbia may be pleased with his outrage against the widely resented NATO bombings. More than that, he seems to be looking to his place in Serbian history, linking his fate at the tribunal with that of all Serbs by tapping into what he called the "sensitive" question of collective guilt. "In all the indictments, they are accusing a whole nation," he said. "Such dirty crimes cannot be ascribed to an army, a police, a people, a nation, their government." It is unclear if he believes it possible to be found innocent, but he spent much time rebutting specific accusations and snipping the connections that prosecutors made in their opening statements between him and the atrocities across the Serbian border in Bosnia and Croatia. One man alone, he ridiculed, could not possibly do all the things prosecutors allege. "He probably thinks that I am superhuman, having these superhuman powers of influencing people and responsibility and accountability outside the territory of my country," he said. "He has ascribed to me some magical, God-like powers." While he did not address the worst atrocity of the war - the massacre of 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica - he specifically distanced himself from other serious accusations. He said he regularly condemned the shelling of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serbs, which claimed an estimated 10,000 lives. He also said he was lied to about the existence of concentration camps in northwestern Bosnia in 1992. "When I heard there were some camps, I asked for an explanation: `Is it possible Serbs were setting up any camps?' " he said. "The explanation I received was the following: `There were no camps. There were only prisons for prisoners of war.'" >From his stack of papers, he showed dozens of photographs, of bombed factories, houses, bridges, a train and a convoy of Albanians to make his case that NATO was equally responsible for civilian deaths in the Balkans. While some 4,000 corpses have been unearthed in Kosovo, most of them Albanian, Human Rights Watch estimates that NATO bombings killed at least 500 civilians, acts which it said violated the Geneva Conventions but did not rise to the level of war crime. Mr. Milosevic disagreed, asking when NATO would be tried for the bombing. "This aggression shows that the NATO pact was not an alliance but an appendage of the American administration, which used it as it deemed when it deemed fit," he said. The reason, he said, "was the geo- strategic spreading of NATO's interests and its areas and also to create a precedent for using force." And he asked to be set free, at least during the trial, so he could prepare himself properly. "You know full well I am not going to escape," he said. "Let me go free so that as a free man I can take an active stand in this regard. You want us to engage in a swimming competition - 100 meters - but you want to tie my hands and feet and let me swim that way and you consider that to be a fair trial." ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Fri Feb 15 00:53:46 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 00:53:46 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Paul Robeson, Mine-Mill, and the forthcoming Peace Arch concert Message-ID: <000301c1b5f5$e6cb9080$27a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: The original Peace Arch concert was held, as this [following] announcement indicates, in May, 1952 -- right on the United States/Canadian border and in the context of the U.S. government's extraordinarily vicious travel ban on Paul Robeson. Another comparable concert took place in August, 1953 -- also at Peace Arch. Each was very well attended and each was sponsored by the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers which had a substantial membership on both sides of the border -- and very much, among many other settings, in British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana. An excellent CD containing most of each of these historic conferences was issued only a couple of years or so ago and is widely available at reasonable cost: Paul Robeson: The Peace Arch Concerts, Folk Era Records, FolkEra at loopback.com -- http://www.folkera.com Paul Robeson had a very congenial and long-standing relationship with the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers in both the 'States and Canada. After the travel ban imposed on him in 1952 by the United States government was finally lifted, he gave his first outside-the-United States concert at the 8th Annual IUMMSW Canadian Convention -- hosted by the huge [about 20,000 members] Mine-Mill Local 598 at Sudbury, Ontario -- at the end of February, 1956. "My art . . .is a weapon in the struggle for my people's freedom and for the freedom of all people," he told the very substantial audience at the quite large Mine-Mill building on Regent Street. "And I want you to know that your understanding and courage and friendship during these years have helped sustain my strength and courage." Hunter [Hunterbear] ================================================ The Paul Robeson Memorial Concert May 18, 2002 Peace Arch Park White Rock, BC, Canada Paul Robeson at the Peace Arch: 1952 On May 18, 1952, in defiance of the authorities who refused to allow him to cross the border, Paul Robeson stood on the back of a flat bed truck and sang songs of defiance and solidarity to 40,000 people on the US- Canadian border. Fifty years later, on May 18, 2002, that event will be commemorated with another concert on the border. The issues dear to Paul Robeson - social justice, freedom, and civil rights - are as pertinent now are they were then. Here We Stand, a free concert at the Peace Arch Park in White Rock, British Columbia, on May 18, 2002, will feature musicians, artists and social activists committed to the same ideals. Please join us. For information about being a patron of Here We Stand, please see Support. For information about the Here We Stand concert, please email info at herewestand.org. __________________________________________________________________ From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 15 11:22:34 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 13:22:34 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Thu., Feb. 21: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=22Immigration_after_911=3A_Know_Your_Rights=21_=2D=2D_=A1?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Conozca_Sus_Derechos=21=22?= Message-ID: Critical Perspectives on Wars, Classes, & Empires Teach-in: "Immigration after 911: Know Your Rights! -- ?Conozca Sus Derechos!" Speakers: Julie Davis & Ron Khasawneh, American Civil Liberties Union Date: Thursday, February 21 Time: 5:00 p.m. Location: 115 Stillman, OSU 1947 College Rd., Columbus, OH Julie Davis & Ron Khasawneh will discuss changing US immigration policies and their impacts on the rights and liberties of the foreign-born, as well as ACLU's "Know Your Rights" campaign. Ron Khasawneh speaks Arabic -- feel free to ask questions in Arabic as well. "Know Your Rights: What To Do If You're Stopped By the Police, the FBI, the INS or the Customs Service": in English, ; in Spanish, ; in Arabic, ; & in Punjabi, . Immigration Facts: * There are over 150 million migrants in the world today. The United States receives less than 2% of the world's migrants on an annual basis. * As of March 2000, 10.4% of the U.S. population was foreign-born. By comparison, from 1870 to 1920, the foreign-born population made up approximately 15% of the total population. "And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." -- Leviticus 19:33-34 <> -- Jos? Saramago, "Carta Abierta a la Solidaridad," Lisboa, 1998 ?Ning?n ser humano es ilegal! Sponsors: the Student International Forum (@ ) and Social Welfare Action Alliance. OSU Campus map: . For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at or 614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at or 614-292-7181. The flyer for the teach-in is available at . The flyer for other upcoming SIF/SWAA events is available at . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Fri Feb 15 11:41:37 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 11:41:37 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Paul Robeson References: <0.1700031988.1141065672-1463792638-1013786792@topica.com> Message-ID: <000301c1b650$67d78120$01a90e3f@ibm22761429477> To Stuart Elliott on ASDnet: I would hope, Mr Elliott, that you, who obviously don't like my just posted and very favorable comments concerning Paul Robeson, the Peace Arch concerts of '52 and '53 and the Mine-Mill union, [you refer to Robeson as a "flawed hero/Stalinist"], could give some of us at least something a little more substantive than the same basic, tired red-baiting fare you provided the other day. Strange stuff, I should say, for a socialist discussion arena in the 21st Century where our many very, very contemporary national and global crises are downright hideous. At that point the other day, following your very similar charges, I commented briefly -- on that matter at hand [very much like the present one but in part an obvious swipe at me] -- that your own apparently rather narrow track record seemed to make my point. I say that once again. "Put another nickel in," as we used to say at Flagstaff High School. But let's move on. I understand you live in the Sunflower State. My Anglo mother [who very recently died at 95 in Arizona ] was mostly Scottish and her kin [very, very early Western and often gun-toting frontier types] were and are heavily found in Alberta, Dakota Territory/North Dakota, IdahoTerritory/Idaho, Indian Territory/Oklahoma, Washington State and the whole Southwest -- and very heavily in several Kansas counties right close to you. I'm always quite interested in Kansas. My Swiss-American great grandfather, Michael Senn, who came into Kansas Territory in the 1850s, was an Abolitionist, Civil War soldier, a founder and major leader of the state's Populist party and a prominent state senator, a founder of the Knights of Labor in the whole region, and essentially a socialist. His daughter, my maternal grandmother, an activist in the suffrage movement, was the first woman to get a Master's degree in Kansas and taught domestic science at Manhattan State before going on to the just barely created State of North Dakota and college teaching there [the first female college prof in N.D.] at the Ag College at Fargo-- and then to Idaho with her just-married husband [a major Dakota Territory horse rancher's son turned metal mining engineer] and beyond. Mother's Swiss-American cousin, Christopher Hoffman, was known, interestingly, as the "Millionaire Socialist" of Kansas, dying from a heart attack while addressing an IWW rally in Kansas City. As I understand it, Gene Debs spoke at his funeral. On one of our many Kansas visits, we stopped in once to see very venerable Mr Sykes, a tall and bearded Kansas radical, wearing Western boots and a Stetson, who had been a close colleague of my Populist great grandfather. Mr Sykes ran a very interesting and large general store in the hills north of Junction City and Manhattan -- and presented me, a child, with a full set of the radical E. Haldeman-Julius Little Blue Books of which I became very fond. Anyway, just how are things going in Kansas in the Save the World Business these days -- and what's going on in the always challenging Hutchinson / Wichita setting? How's Labor doing in your area? Creationists still trying to go back a century or two? I visited the salt mines at Hutchinson on several occasions and the residual zinc operations down in the Tri-State. And I've got cousins -- some of whom I know reasonably well -- all over that general end of the state. One, John Solbach, great/great grandson of Michael Senn, is a lawyer at Lawrence and a Democratic party activist who until recently was a state senator [using the same Senate chair that Michael Senn had ages before]. We talk occasionally on the phone about various things and get on well. By the way, on James Baldwin and Paul Robeson: I noted, in your New Politics journal reference, Baldwin's critical comments regarding Robeson. I met James Baldwin just once when he spent a substantial period one afternoon at our embattled home at Tougaloo College in Mississippi -- very early January, 1963. He was brought there by our close friend and associate, NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers. "Jimmy" Baldwin held my infant daughter Maria [who had just, a couple of weeks or so before, had a Klansman's bullet go through her crib one night when our home was shot p -- that slug passing only an inch or two from her head.] Shortly before that, the always very congenial Pete Seeger had jiggled Maria on his knee, while he sang a bit to her. Bill Kunstler knew her well and his daughter, Karin, then at Tougaloo, was one of several students who sometimes baby-sat our feisty little darling -- including at a point when Eldri and I were in jail together [different cells, of course, it being Mississippi.] I remember that Baldwin, who also addressed the student boycott leaders at our home, told Maria that "I'll be back to see you when you have another tooth" and she smiled happily at him. I liked and respected Baldwin very much as I did Robeson and DuBois and Randolph and many, many others who may have differed on some of the specifics of the Trail to the Sun but, whatever their competing varieties of socialism, were certainly all on the same side. But Baldwin -- and for very understandable reasons -- spent a great deal of time in France where he wrote some obviously very significant and extremely effective stuff. Robeson was fighting very hard and well right here in the 'States for virtually all of his life -- long before the vicious Federal travel ban imposed on him and long afterwards. If you can hear Paul Robeson singing "Joe Hill" [and much else] without your deepest waters stirring, Stuart Elliott, I'll be extremely surprised. In Solidarity - Hunter [Hunterbear] Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stuart Elliott" To: Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 8:26 AM Subject: [ASDnet] Robeson: Flawed Hero/Stalinist > On Robeson see Barry Finger's excellent article in New Politics > http://www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue25/finger25.htm > > WHAT THE COMMUNISTS WERE CHARGED WITH, IN THE POST-WAR WORLD, and what > lends a sympathetic luster to their martyrdom, was being members or > sympathizers of the Communist Party, which was their inalienable right > to join or support. That they were charged with spreading the > revolutionary views of Marxism, a charge of which they were totally > innocent, remains a flagrant libel against Marxism. But what prompted > that libel was the falling out of imperialist rivals, yesterdays' > wartime allies who, having parceled out control of the world between > them, now found their mutual antagonisms unbridgeable. > > When the Smith Act, the predecessor of McCarthyism, was enacted by > Congress and signed by Roosevelt, its first victims were leading members > of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and of Minneapolis Teamsters local > 544, eighteen of whom were convicted. This was in 1941, when Russia and > America were wartime allies. Convinced that the 18 were convicted for > their views and not for any illegal acts, the labor and liberal > movements rallied to their cause in large numbers, again without regard > for their political differences with Trotskyism. The Communists also > rallied in unions and arenas where they could gain a hearing throughout > the country. What made their intervention so singularly notorious > however is that they rallied tirelessly to isolate and discredit the > supporters of the indicted socialist unionists, regretting only that the > sentences were not harsher. > > When a few years later it was the Stalinists who were persecuted by the > same provisions of the Smith Act, a Conference to Defend the Bill of > Rights was hastily convened in July of 1949, largely under Stalinist > initiative, to solidify a defense movement. In preparation, the Daily > Worker printed an editorial warning in advance that the Communist Party > would not allow the forum to defend the civil liberties of > "Trotskyites." Those with scruples, like I. F. Stone and Professor > Thomas I. Emerson, were put on notice that such support would be > considered disruptive. Nevertheless, endorsement of the Minneapolis > defendants and the related case of the veteran, James Kutcher, who had > lost both legs in the very "peoples' war" which the Communists invoked > with such religious fervor, was not short in coming having been proposed > by none less than the chair of the conference, Paul J. Kern. Kutcher had > lost first his limbs and then, due to his membership in the "subversive" > Socialist Workers Party, lost his clerical position in the Veterans' > Administration, his disability pension and finally his public housing. > Paul Robeson, a leading World War II sentimentalist, (after Hitler > unilaterally and violently destroyed his Pact with Stalin) then took to > the platform and in a sordid display of Stalinist solidarity denounced > adherents of the Socialist Workers Party as "allies of fascism who want > to destroy the new democracies of the world. Let us not be confused. > They are the enemies of the working class. Would you give civil rights > to the Ku Klux Klan?" Kern's resolution was defeated. > > > [Robeson was also an apologist for Soviet anti-Semitism, the show > trials, the invasion of Finland,suppression of the Hungarian Revolution, > etc.] > > While the Hitler-Stalin pact was still in effect, Robeson counseled > American blacks that they had no stake in the rivalry of European > powers. Once Russia was attacked, he urged blacks to support the war > effort, now warning that an Allied defeat would "make slaves of us all." > The Communist Party denounced the Double V campaign (victory over > fascism abroad and Jim Crow at home) and castigated black leaders who > refused to suspend their people's struggle. The first March on > Washington Movement in 1941 to desegregate the armed forces was > excoriated for spreading "confusion and dangerous moods in the rank and > file of the Negro people and utilizing their justifiable grievances as a > weapon of opposition to the Administration's war program." Randolph, > himself, was denounced as a "fascist helping defeatism" and as a > saboteur who "guaranteed the triumph of fascism." These Stalinist > pronouncements did not elicit a pee of objection or reservation from > Paul Robeson. > > People's attention is scarce. Do not abuse it. > > ==^================================================================ > From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 15 13:02:37 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 12:02:37 PST Subject: [R-G] Check out this site Message-ID: <200202152002.g1FK2bB22072@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 15 13:06:15 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 12:06:15 PST Subject: [R-G] Britain's Revived Labor Movement Is Spoiling for a Fight - NYT Message-ID: <200202152006.g1FK6FB26766@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 15 20:49:22 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 19:49:22 PST Subject: [R-G] Isn't it Ironic? AlterNet Message-ID: <200202160349.g1G3nMB28155@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 15 21:03:28 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 20:03:28 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Milosevic accuses NATO of Kosovo horrors Message-ID: <00d401c1b69e$e45d6ae0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> AFP. 15 February 2002. Milosevic accuses NATO of Kosovo horrors. THE HAGUE -- Slobodan Milosevic bombarded the international tribunal here Friday with photographs of burnt corpses, slain children and razed homes that he said were targeted by NATO air strikes in 1999. On the second day of his defense against war crimes charges, the former Yugoslav president accused NATO of targeting civilians who stayed in the province, arguing that the West wanted to force an exodus in order to pin it on Serbian forces. "The movement of Albanians from Kosovo was strategically important for the Clinton administration," Milosevic said, adding that their flight provided "confirmation and justification for what they were doing." Bill Clinton was the US president at the time of the bombing. Dozens of horrific photographs were presented to the court, one showing a baby lying in a field and another of a young boy with part of his abdomen blown open, along with many smashed buildings. A column of ethnic Albanian refugees was hit by NATO bombs in April 1999 because they sought to return to their village, Milosevic said, disrupting NATO plans to show that Serb forces were driving out civilians. "A more horrific message could not have been sent to Albanians that were returning to their village," he said. Speaking in a soft, somber tone, Milosevic described the destruction in villages, named the victims shown lying in pools of blood, and carefully outlined their ages and the circumstances of their deaths. "This is a corpse of a child, Kaitomi Kostrate from the village... born in 1998. While he was tending to a field he was killed by NATO bombs," he said. "This entire war was pointless and it constitutes a crime. Those who come to kill children who are asleep can hardly sleep peacefully themselves if they are human at all," he said. During the first day of his defense on Thursday, the former Yugoslav president accused the West of spreading an "ocean of lies" and showed a first set of grisly photographs to support his claim that the West had blood on its hands. On Friday Milosevic reiterated his view that NATO's air campaign between March and June 1999 was a violation of international law because it was not endorsed by the United Nations. "All the laws of international law and the statutes of NATO were infringed upon," he told the court. NATO has acknowledged that civilians died during the air war and expressed regret for what it terms "collateral damage," but Milosevic said targeting civilians was central to their military strategy. "We intercepted communication between the the pilot and his command center," the 60-year-old former Yugoslav president told the court. "The pilot says that it's not a military column, and that he can see peasants and tractors. And the response was 'Carry out your orders,'" he said. "They were targeting peasants plowing their fields outside their village," Milosevic said. "This is a highly eloquent though drastic example of the suffering of people," Milosevic said. Facing the judges, Milosevic also accused them of "encouraging terrorism" in the Balkans by putting him on trial, saying that there was "celebration" among ethnic Albanian rebels earlier this week when the prosecution presented its case. Legal experts say Milosevic will be allowed to continue to attack NATO and the West in his opening defence statement, but once the heart of the trial begins will be limited to cross-examining prosecution witnesses. But with the world attention focussed on him in these early days of the trial, the Serb leader kept pressing the case that Serb forces were not guilty of ethnic cleansing but in fact tried to save ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. "In that fury of failure and fiasco that was the attack on Yugoslavia, and the persistence with which its policy was being implemented, a special characteristic of the bombing was that it targeted inhabited areas," he said. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 15 21:08:31 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 20:08:31 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Milosevic accuses US of "double standard" on terrorism Message-ID: <00e801c1b69f$990ce920$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> AFP. 15 February 2002. Milosevic accuses US of "double standard" on terrorism. THE HAGUE -- Slobodan Milosevic, on trial here for war crimes, accused the United States on Friday of operating a "double standard" on terrorism. On the second day of an opening statement to defend himself at The Hague on genocide and atrocities charges, Milosevic said that while the United States was fighting Muslim extremists in Afghanistan it had supported them in Albania. He said the United States turned a blind eye when al-Qaeda fighters allegedly helped train the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas who waged an armed rebellion for indepence in Kosovo against the Belgrade regime. Belgrade's crackdown on the rebels was halted only by the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. "While the USA in Afghanistan is radically settling its accounts with terrorism, in Kosovo and other regions throughout the world they are making use of terrorism as an effective weapon, an effective means in their strategy of domination," Milosevic said. The al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden is blamed for the September 11 terror attacks in the United States, and Milosevic said Washington was now the victim of its own doings. "For many years America has been applying this double standard policy, and as the attacks on New York and Washington have shown, they have turned against Americans themselves," he told the court. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 15 21:02:18 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 20:02:18 PST Subject: [R-G] The Great Game - Uri Avnery Message-ID: <200202160402.g1G42IB03087@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 15 21:07:41 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2002 20:07:41 PST Subject: [R-G] Enron: Ultimate agent of the American empire Message-ID: <200202160407.g1G47fB05361@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sat Feb 16 09:27:34 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 11:27:34 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Raisethefist founder, Sherman, released from prison Message-ID: <001901c1b706$d6fd3610$33378d18@Indy1> WEF protestor (raisethefist.com founder) RELEASED from FEDERAL PRISON (english) by anonymous 6:55am Sat Feb 16 '02 .. http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=136110&group=webcast FEB 16 2001 - After charges against RTF founder, Sherman Austin were dropped on Feb 14th, a court order was put in by his attorney to release him immediately. Sherman was released from Oklahoma Federal Prison, after being airlifted there in the custody of U.S marshals towards his arrival to California. Inmates are usually taken to Oklahoma as a "pub" before reaching their destination. After leaving the Southern District Federal Prison in lower Manhattan, Sherman spent about 2 days in Oklahoma Federal prison before being released. Sherman was being held in "high-security" federal prison following his arrest on Feb. 2nd by the NYPD at the WEF protests. He was held in Brooklyn Navy Yard jail for aprox 30 hours before being taken into a back room where he was interrogated by FBI and Secret Service, and then released with no charges. Within minutes he was then re-arrested by the FBI. Sherman has been incarcerated for 13 days. He is the last of the WEF protestors to be released. No reason was given as of why the FBI dropped the charges. "He still has the sword of Damocles hanging over him. The government arrested him out of the blue and then reversed themselves out of the blue," Austin's lawyer Susan Tipograph said. "Who knows what they're going to do next?" www.raisethefist.com From pieinsky at igc.org Sat Feb 16 10:26:17 2002 From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 12:26:17 -0500 Subject: [R-G] War against Iraq "is inevitable" Message-ID: <005601c1b70f$19aac920$227cf2d0@bypass.com> US action against Saddam 'before end of the year' >From Michael Evans, Defence Editor and Roland Watson in Washington London Times February 16, 2001 PLANNING for a Gulf War II, with the aim of toppling President Saddam Hussein from power, has developed a "head of steam" in Washington, British officials say. Although there is no specific order for the American military to start detailed operational planning, Britain and other US allies have been briefed that action against Saddam is inevitable before the end of the year. One of the key decisions to be made, according to British defence sources, is whether to mount an operation by expanding the assets already in the region, based around the combat air patrols over southern Iraq, or to start from scratch and construct a force capable of "going all the way to Baghdad" . A number of options are being considered at the highest level at the Pentagon, the CIA and other agencies. Sources confirmed, however, that US Central Command, based at Tampa in Florida, which would be responsible for planning and launching an attack on Iraq, was not yet involved. The options range from a full-scale campaign involving three or four US armoured and airborne divisions with between 200,000 and 250,000 troops, backed by a comprehensive bombing operation, to a covert mission in which American special operations forces try to co-ordinate opposition to Saddam. As in Afghanistan, the bombing campaign would concentrate initially on destroying Saddam's rebuilt air defence system, disrupting the command and control network and ensuring air supremacy over Iraq. British defence officials said that they believed any campaign against Iraq was still a long way off. They said that American troops would be involved in Afghanistan for several more months and that other more practicable options for phase two of the war on terror were next on the list. These included Somalia and Yemen, where a substantially increased aerial surveillance and eavesdropping effort was soon to be launched to search for al-Qaeda terrorist cells; and the Philippines, where 600 American soldiers are moving into the south of the country, where the Abu Sayyaf militant group, linked to al-Qaeda, is based. However, the momentum building in Washington towards launching military action against Saddam is at such a level, other British sources said, that Iraq appears to have moved to the forefront. Initially Washington included Iraq on its list of countries with links to al-Qaeda, but when European governments insisted that there was no intelligence evidence connecting Baghdad to Osama bin Laden's organisation, the US changed tack. "Now the emphasis is on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme and the danger that Saddam might send out his own agents armed with chemical or biological devices," one official said. Before the Gulf War in 1991 the US-led coalition received credible warnings that Saddam's agents were plotting to release anthrax and other deadly agents in London and other European cities. Contingency plans were put in force to counter an attack in London. A British official said: "The threat never materialised, but the September 11 atrocities in America might encourage Saddam to do it this time." Although past experience of the Iraqi opposition groups provides little confidence that they can become a proper fighting force to take on the Iraqi President's Revolutionary Guard, some British officials believe that the Americans might succeed in making them effective. In Washington there are splits over battlefield and diplomatic tactics. Influential figures in the Pentagon believe that the key to toppling Saddam lies in giving the CIA the same role that it played in Afghanistan: mobilising opposition forces on the ground in alliance with US airstrikes. But senior CIA officials, including George Tenet, its Director, doubt if the blueprint could be replicated in Iraq, where there is no opposition as well-established or well-equipped as the anti-Taleban Northern Alliance. The CIA has harboured misgivings about the strength of the opposition Iraqi National Congress and other Kurdish and anti-Saddam groups in the north since 1995. Then, the CIA leadership and the White House pulled the rug from under an attempted revolt against Baghdad at the last minute. Not only did the coup fail, but the debacle also damaged the Iraqi opposition's faith in the CIA. Key figures in the White House believe that demands on Saddam to re-admit United Nations weapons inspectors should be set so high that he would fail to meet them unless he provided officials with total freedom. Others are arguing for a more staged approach. Although Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, has supported President Bush's "axis of evil" rhetoric, senior State Department officials argue that the demands on Saddam should reflect as broad a coalition as possible and be increased gradually. The visit by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, to nine Arab states, plus Turkey and Britain, will be a critical test of the support in the region for Mr Bush's diplomatic and potential military agression. From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:12:00 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:12:00 PST Subject: [R-G] European officials warn U.S. not to attack Iraq - Reuters Message-ID: <200202162112.g1GLC0B28204@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:31:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:31:14 PST Subject: [R-G] Cheney Rejects Criticism by Allies Over Stand on Iraq - NYT Message-ID: <200202162131.g1GLVEB06941@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:34:15 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:34:15 PST Subject: [R-G] The Porto Alegre innovation - The Hindu Message-ID: <200202162134.g1GLYGB08392@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:40:07 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:40:07 PST Subject: [R-G] BUSH: I DID NOT HAVE IMPROPER RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMAN:MISS ENRON MISS ENRON Message-ID: <200202162140.g1GLe7B10814@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:42:09 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:42:09 PST Subject: [R-G] Self explanatory URL Message-ID: <200202162142.g1GLg9B12140@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:48:11 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:48:11 PST Subject: [R-G] Time for a war on poverty? Canberra Times Message-ID: <200202162148.g1GLmBB14904@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 14:53:15 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 13:53:15 PST Subject: [R-G] US Objectives In Central And South Asia Message-ID: <200202162153.g1GLrFB17349@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sat Feb 16 13:24:31 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 15:24:31 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Any site ending in ".indymedia.org" CANNOT BE ACCESSED!! Message-ID: <00b201c1b727$f25fb290$33378d18@Indy1> http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/02/116378.php UREGENT: Access to Indymedia Sites Blocked??? What's Going On?!?! by Lysander Zimmerman, IMC Hamilton February 16 2002, Sat, 2:10pm LAMZ at sympatico.ca THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING WEIRD GOING ON BECAUSE I COULD ONLY ACCESS SF-INDYMEDIA BY TYPING ITS ALTERNATE ADDRESS -- WWW.INDYBAY.ORG !! I can't access ANY Indymedia sites with addresses ending in ".indymedia.org"!! Anyone know why indymedia is not working? It's not working for me....even sites with their own servers (San Fran, LA, Victoria, Buffalo, etc.)! Philly, St Louis, Ireland, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Adelaide, Israel , and Networking (Global Discussion) are the only ones that I can access out of the several with their own servers! This is highly unusual. I have never encountered this before. Any ideas???? Could this be the cause? Every site that ends with ".indymedia.org" cannot be accessed! All of the sites listed above are online since they do not have the ".indymedia.org" in their address! Observe: Germany -- http://www.indymedia.de [alternate address germany.indymedia.org doesn't work!] San Fran Bay -- http://www.indybay.org [alternate address sf..indymedia.org doesn't work!] UK -- http://www.indymedia.org.uk [alternate address uk.indymedia.org doesn't work!] Philly -- http://www.phillyimc.org St Louis -- http://www.stlimc.org Ireland -- http://www.indymedia.ie Finland -- http://www.vaikuttava.net Netherlands -- http://www.indymedia.nl Norway -- http://www.indymedia.no Adelaide -- http://www.adelaide.indymedia.org.au Israel -- http://www.indymedia.org.il Networking -- http://www.global.indymedia.org.au It is as if there is something blocking access to any of the sites ending in ".indymedia.org"!! hamilton.indymedia.org Something weird is definitely happening! Note, IMC Germany can also be accesed because its address is http://www.indymedia.de and indymedia uk only has one feature up. There is definitely something weird going on because I could only access sf-indymedia by typing its alternate address -- http://www.indybay.org !! Also, NONE OF MY EMAILS ARE GETTING THROUGH ON THE INDYMEDIA LISTS!! Mailman on http://lists.indymedia.org is not working. THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE!! From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Sat Feb 16 16:56:40 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 16:56:40 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Unions, Workers, Tribal Sovereignty Message-ID: <000301c1b745$97482a40$eaa90e3f@ibm22761429477> "The 10-1 ruling said the pueblo's right-to-work measure was "clearly an exercise of sovereign authority over economic transactions on the reservation." From the AP story of January 16, 2002. Note by Hunterbear: This is a very complex -- and sensitive -- situation. I write as a Native activist who consistently and vigorously supports labor unionism. I presently belong to three unions. Very recently, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling which upholds -- in the context of tribal sovereignty -- the right of a Native nation [San Juan Pueblo of New Mexico] to enact and maintain a right-to-work law. This relates specifically to workers at a tribally-owned sawmill but has, many of us feel, very wide ramifications in Indian Country generally -- and a key economic dimension involved in all of this could well be workers in tribally-owned casino operations. This is a ruling -- in an obviously sad situation -- which virtually all Native people will support as well as informed and issues-sensitive non-Native people.The possible motives of the leadership of San Juan Pueblo in this matter quite aside, this general support for the ruling has nothing to do with unions. It does involve the absolutely critical importance for Native Americans in maintaining what tribal/national sovereignty remains. Unions -- effective unions sensitive and committed to Native concerns -- are increasingly critical in the Native American worker context: both on and off the reservations. The Tenth Circuit ruling and the collateral implications pose a substantial challenge to unionism. I strongly believe that unions can and must meet the challenge of effective organization and vigorous representation of Native American workers. I believe that unions will -- but it's going to require much awareness and sensitivity on their part with respect to Native people and societies and cultures and concerns. Among other things, unions are going to have learn a great deal about Native Americans. And the unions are going to have to hire Native organizers -- and certainly Native staff from the respective tribal setting involved. And more. First, a little quick background on the matter of Native tribal sovereignty. Then, several excerpts from a long letter on the Natives and union situation that I've just written to a friend much involved on behalf of Native rights Finally, a newspaper article on the background and specific nature of the San Juan Pueblo ruling. TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY: A Native tribal nation, like all nations, has inherent sovereignty. Full sovereignty is the full and ultimate control by the tribal nation of its land, its people, and its affairs. Much sovereignty has been lost -- however temporarily -- by the tribal nations in both the U.S. and Canada but some functional sovereignty does remain. Native sovereignty has been badly eroded. In the United States, the current situation is referred to as "residual" or "limited sovereignty" -- a tribal nation has control over some dimensions but not over others. The fight is always to preserve and to expand sovereignty. Sovereignty, obviously, is power -- and protection and security -- and critical to individual and societal well-being. A Federally recognized tribe today in the U.S. has these powers in the context of "limited" or "residual" sovereignty: 1] Tribes can govern themselves administratively and judicially -- under the regulations of the Indian Reorganization Act [1934] and subject to the Major Crimes Act [1885], Public Law 280 [1953] and the Indian Civil Rights Act [1968.] 2] Tribes can tax their members and tax outside business enterprises functioning on the reservation. 3] Tribes can handle domestic relations. 4] Tribes can apportion tribal property [e.g., homesites.] 5] Tribes can regulate inheritance. 6] Tribes can determine tribal membership. Obviously this excludes much from "the full and ultimate control by the tribal nation of its land, its people, and its affairs." As just an example, let's look at the criminal justice situation on a Federal Indian reservation today: A tribe CAN arrest and prosecute an Indian who commits misdemeanor crimes within the boundaries of the reservation. A tribe CANNOT arrest and prosecute anyone who commits felony crimes on its reservation. In the greatest majority of cases, this power is held by the Federal government under the Major Crimes Act of 1885 -- although a non-Indian to non-Indian felony on a reservation is turned over to state officials. In a small minority of cases, however, Public Law 280 [1953] gives all felony jurisdiction to the state. [PL-280, BTW, was part of the infamous "Termination Package" of the reactionary 1950s and beyond which included, in addition to 280, formal efforts to terminate treaty rights -- and although this was kept at arm's length by most tribes and eventually ended and reversed as policy, played hell with the Menominee and Klamath and a number of other affected nations. Termination efforts included, too, the urban relocation scheme which maneuvered tens of thousands of Native people into the cities with both "the stick" and "pie in the sky" promises and dumped them there sans Federal Indian benefits.] In 1978, the US Supreme Court issued the Oliphant decision which prevents tribes from prosecuting non-Indian offenders on its reservation. Immediately following this, I had the interesting experience of spending a day discussing OIiphant and its implications at a special workshop for Navajo tribal police at Window Rock. [I handled the Criminal Justice curriculum at Navajo Community College.] It was clear that massive confusion was fast developing and that the only immediate solution was cross-deputization of tribal police by state authorities. [The Navajo Nation is bigger than the state of West Virginia and, in this case, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah are involved.] Cross-deputization in Indian country generally came to pass quickly, enabling a cross-deputized tribal police officer to arrest a non-Indian on the reservation -- but the non-Indian would have to be turned over to state or Federal officers. Further, only rarely was a state cross-deputized tribal officer able to arrest someone on state jurisdiction. If this was not confusing enough, the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990 Duro decision sought to prevent a tribe from arresting and prosecuting Indians of other tribes on its reservation! This fast-developing and completely bizarre twist led Congress to forthwith pass special "blocking" legislation which was made permanent in 1992. Thus Duro has been effectively nullified. This has led a great many of us to call for restoration of full Native civil and criminal jurisdiction [ jurisdiction over everyone!] on the reservations. The completely tangled criminal justice jurisdictional situation on Federal Indian reservations epitomizes the very complex mess in which most Native people are caught up today. EXCERPTS FROM HUNTERBEAR LETTER: "Good to hear from you, Ed. We certainly agree. The decision is both sad as hell -- but absolutely necessary to maintain tribal sovereignty. . . I heard of this San Juan Pueblo decision several weeks ago when it initially came down. I immediately felt the casino issue had to be in there somewhere. And I'm sure it is. Although it wasn't mentioned in the thing I initially saw, the governor of the Pueblo mentions that specifically in this attached article. It's a small Pueblo and would be extremely cohesive. We know people at Laguna but no one at San Juan. Unions haven't done too badly in Native settings -- UMWA and the Navajo, for example -- but they've got to make [as you certainly are aware] their approaches with sensitivity -- and usually with Native organizers and very hopefully with some paid staff from the tribal setting involved. These dimensions are not absolutely critical -- but almost so. It also usually takes a good deal of time -- time [and money] that I know for sure some unions aren't willing to spend. [Efforts to interest one AFL-CIO union in doing something on a North Dakota reservation in the context of a tribally-owned factory never got off the ground because in the end the union wouldn't make the time and money and staff commitment.] When they do get into things, unions may simply rush matters too fast for many Native settings. But there have certainly been many situations where unions and Indians have gotten along well. This is generally true in off-res settings -- and the heavier challenge is on-res stuff. But Navajo coal miners on Navajo Nation turf have frequently unionized -- although these are not tribally owned operations [Peabody on lease, etc.] As this San Juan situation indicates, tribally owned industries are the toughest organizing challenge -- caught up always in intricate politics. You are very right in indicating we need to do much more with the unions on these and related issues. Anyway, just some quick thoughts from me. It's a disturbing situation -- and a genuine challenge to organized labor. Let's stay in very close contact. Best - Hunterbear " NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF TENTH CIRCUIT RULING AND BACKGROUND: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 (AP) 10th Circuit upholds tribal right-to-work law http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/01/16/stat e122\ 7EST7213.DTL (01-16) 09:27 PST SAN JUAN PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) -- The governor of the San Juan Pueblo says a federal appeals court ruling upholding the pueblo's authority to enact a right-to-work law is a victory for Indian sovereignty. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled Friday on a labor dispute with a company operating on land leased from the pueblo north of Espanola. The appeals court said the tribe can take steps to regulate pueblo economy as long as those actions aren't banned by the federal government. The case began in 1996 when a labor union demanded workers covered by the union contract at the Rio Grande Forest Products sawmill on pueblo land be required to pay union dues. "The Tribal Council believes that it was unfair for a labor union to force employees to choose between paying mandatory union dues or being fired from their jobs," said Pueblo Gov. Wilfred Garcia. "The pueblo's right-to-work law allows all employees on our lands to voluntarily choose to join or financially support unions." The National Labor Relations Board sued the pueblo in support of the union, arguing that the federal National Labor Relations Act removed the pueblo's authority to ban compulsory union dues. U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez of Santa Fe ruled in favor of the pueblo in 1998, and the NLRB appealed. A three-judge 10th Circuit panel upheld Vazquez, but the full appeals court later reheard the case because it concerned issues of national importance, Garcia said. The NLRB sought the rehearing in December 2000. Federal law generally holds that if an employer has an agreement with a union, workers cannot be forced to join but still must pay union dues. The tribal law banned such agreements. The 10-1 ruling said the pueblo's right-to-work measure was "clearly an exercise of sovereign authority over economic transactions on the reservation." "Now that the full 10th Circuit has spoken and recognized that the pueblo of San Juan has a status equivalent to state governments when it comes to labor unions, I believe that this decision will have nationwide significance for Indian tribes as labor unions attempt to unionize Indian casinos," Garcia said. Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation in Washington, D.C., said the ruling would help foster businesses on tribal land. On the Net: 10th Circuit decision: www.kscourts.org/ca10/cases/2002/01/99-2011.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 AP Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) From cbcox at ilstu.edu Sat Feb 16 19:11:06 2002 From: cbcox at ilstu.edu (Carrol Cox) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 20:11:06 -0600 Subject: Not True Re: [R-G] Any site ending in ".indymedia.org" CANNOT BE ACCESSED!! References: <00b201c1b727$f25fb290$33378d18@Indy1> Message-ID: <3C6F113A.52C7A54A@ilstu.edu> Lysander Zimmerman wrote: > > http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/02/116378.php > > UREGENT: Access to Indymedia Sites Blocked??? What's Going On?!?! > by Lysander Zimmerman, IMC Hamilton February 16 2002, Sat, 2:10pm > LAMZ at sympatico.ca > Not True. Carrol From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sat Feb 16 17:11:32 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 19:11:32 -0500 Subject: CERTAINLY WAS TRUE: [R-G] Any site ending in ".indymedia.org" CANNOT BE ACCESSED!! References: <00b201c1b727$f25fb290$33378d18@Indy1> <3C6F113A.52C7A54A@ilstu.edu> Message-ID: <003001c1b747$a7e57b80$33378d18@Indy1> It certainly was true Carrol. Maybe you tried to access them after they went online again. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Carrol Cox" To: Sent: Saturday, February 16, 2002 9:11 PM Subject: Not True Re: [R-G] Any site ending in ".indymedia.org" CANNOT BE ACCESSED!! > > > Lysander Zimmerman wrote: > > > > http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/02/116378.php > > > > UREGENT: Access to Indymedia Sites Blocked??? What's Going On?!?! > > by Lysander Zimmerman, IMC Hamilton February 16 2002, Sat, 2:10pm > > LAMZ at sympatico.ca > > > > Not True. > > Carrol > > _______________________________________________ > Rad-Green mailing list > Rad-Green at lists.econ.utah.edu > To change your options or unsubscribe go to: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green > From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 23:38:49 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 22:38:49 PST Subject: [R-G] This is not justice (The Hague) - The Guardian Message-ID: <200202170638.g1H6cnB14691@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Sat Feb 16 23:53:08 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Sat, 16 Feb 2002 22:53:08 PST Subject: [R-G] U.S. Considers Military Action to Remove Skating Judges Message-ID: <200202170653.g1H6r8B20297@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From aaron at istop.com Sun Feb 17 01:00:24 2002 From: aaron at istop.com (aaron at istop.com) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 03:00:24 -0500 (EST) Subject: [R-G] protest at citi group(financial backers for the camisea project feb 19-23 Message-ID: <20020217080024.AC38617047@ns.istop.com> CAMISEA NATURAL GAS PROJECT, PERU - Updated October 8, 2001 Camisea Maps - click to enlarge Project Overview Camisea gas project is located in one of the world's most biologically diverse regions in the remote Peruvian Amazon in Blocks 88A and 88B in the Mipaya, San Martin and Cashiriari fields. The concession covers the legally recognized and titled territory of several nomadic, isolated and uncontacted indigenous peoples. As a $2.7 billion project, Camisea involves the construction of wells, flow lines, a gas plant and two pipelines to the coast. The field contains an estimated 11 trillion cubic feet of gas and 600 million barrels of condensate. Upstream Operators (production) Pluspetrol (Argentina) (40%) Hunt Oil (US) (40%) SK Corporation (South Korea) (20%) Downstream Operators (transportation) Techint (30%), Pluspetrol (19.2%) Hunt Oil (19.2%) SK Corporation (9.6%) Grana y Montero (12%) Sonatrach (10%) Financiers Pluspetrol and Hunt Oil Citigroup is the financial advisor arranging the financing for the project. Environmental Impact Assessment Pluspetrol presented the complete Environmental Impact Assessment in late September. The EIA for the gas pipeline is expected to be ready in late October 2001. Status Project construction timeline - 2002-2003. Equipment expected to arrive in November. Construction to begin early 2002; drilling rigs and pipelines is expected to be completed by December 2003. Financial Update The Camisea natural gas project is the first major gas development in Peru. Citigroup is the financial advisor for the $2.7 billion Camisea project and as such will take lead in arranging the financing for the project. The financial and logistical feasibility of the project remains in question for several reasons: the lack of Peruvian demand for gas; recent Peruvian political and economic insecurity; Camisea's history of significant cost overruns; problematic contract negotiations and delays in the bidding process. Doubts are compounded by new consortium's lack of experience in developing a massive project in an environmentally and culturally sensitive area. Furthermore, the consortium's plans to accelerate the approval and construction process by seven months is likely to increase the international controversy around the project. Peruvian government officials expect the downstream consortium to invest US $800 million on transportation gas pipelines and US $300-400 million on distribution pipelines. However, the downstream consortium needs additional members to carry this cost and funding remains uncertain. To date the upstream consortium has experienced problems in securing initial investment. Pluspetrol claims that first stage investments for the upstream segment will total US $400-600 million, secured through bank loans, bond issuances and export-import and development banks. For the latter stage of the project, Pluspetrol plans to invest an additional US$200 million, making a total Pluspetrol investment of US $1.6 billion in the upstream segment. Over the life of the project, $2.7 billion of investments are expected. Environmental and Social Impacts The Lower Urubamba River Valley (meaning 'Sacred Valley' in Quechua) gas field is located in one of the world's most biologically diverse regions in the legally titled territory of several uncontacted indigenous peoples. A study headed by Smithsonian Institute recognizes the area "to be in nearly pristine condition," showing no evidence of human activity. The study found the following: 152 different plant species per hectare, nearly 800 species of birds, 120 species of fish, 86 species of reptiles, up to 69 species of medium and large mammals, more than 300 species of bats, rodents and other small mammals, and over 600 species of invertebrates. The researchers acknowledged that the species richness encountered is undoubtedly only a fraction of the actual diversity present. The Camisea is home to Nahua and Kugapakori Indians who live in voluntary isolation. When Shell conducted preliminary exploration of the region in the mid-'80s, the Nahua were exposed to whooping cough, small pox and influenza. An estimated 50% of the population died. Most of the rest of the group fled the area. Dozens of Machiguenga communities are also located along the rivers inside Camisea's area of operation. The World Wide Fund for Nature is reported to be concerned that 15,000 local people would be "severely affected" by the project. Shell's Environmental Impact Assessment found that the following socio-cultural impacts could occur: loss of food resources, contamination of drinking water supplies, diseases, loss or damage to archeological sites and changes to existing economic activity. The gas pipeline route is also said to traverse the remote biodiverse Vilcabamba range to the west of the Camisea gas field which includes two communal reserves and a national park. The range contains the Apur?mac Reserved Zone, the source of more than 50 rivers that drain into the Amazon basin via the Ucayali River. According to the IUCN, "the Vilcabamba region harbors remarkable tree, bird, insect, and small mammal biodiversity, much of which remains to be documented by science." A World Bank/GEF funded project, named Participatory Conservation and Sustainable Development Program with Indigenous Communities in Vilcabamba, has been designed to create, implement, and disseminate a model for conservation and sustainable development that will be available at the national level for future replication. Conservation International manages the project in partnership with several local NGOs and indigenous organizations. Local Peruvian NGO, CEDIA, one of the organizations involved in the conservation program is calling for 4.5 kilometer rerouting of the Camisea gas pipeline around the proposed Communal Reserve of Vilcabamba Pavlik Nikitine. Otherwise, they warn that the gas pipeline will open access into this pristine region. Controversy over Upstream Environmental Assessment Uproar broke out among indigenous organizations when a 15-day time limit was announced for public response to the Environmental Impact Assessment for the upstream portion of the Camisea gas field, which was submitted for consideration at public hearings in September. Local community leaders indicate that to date, neither the company nor the government has made the full copy of the EIA available to local stakeholders. The public hearings were only held in Cuzco and Lima, far from the communities most affected by the project. Machiguenga and Yine indigenous organizations argue that ILO Convention 169 legally establishes their right to consultation on resource exploitation projects on their lands. In violation of the Convention, peoples living in the path of Camisea have not been consulted or informed about the project's impacts on their lands and lives. Downstream EIA for the gas pipelines will be submitted in late October 2001. Camisea Consortium's Deadly History Camisea consortium members have an appalling environmental and social track record. In October 2000, a Pluspetrol oil spill on the Mara??n River caused ecological disaster contaminating Peru's largest protected area, the Pacaya Samiria Reserve. The area's 20,000 inhabitants, many from the Cocamas- Cocamillas people, suffered diarrhea and skin diseases and saw their food and water supply decimated by toxic pollution. Many medicines promised by Pluspetrol never reached affected communities and food provided was wholly inadequate, yet those receiving company hand-outs had to sign a document of "gratitude". In November 1999, a rupture in a Pluspetrol oil pipeline in the Pucayacu ravine contaminated the Chambira River. The Urarina indigenous people suffered severe health problems and death. The Urarina demand that Pluspetrol contracts be reviewed and that oil transportation be strictly controlled. What You Can Do THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW! The Camisea project faces determined resistance as it progresses into the approval process for its environmental license. Controversy will intensify as plans to develop the gas field and pipelines bring the inexperienced consortium into the hostile public arena that previously led to Shell's departure from Camisea. At this critical moment, let's use our voice in defense of environmental and social justice and demand that all financial supporters and operators of the Camisea project: 1) Pull out of the Camisea Project 2) Stop any further financing for gas exploration, production and transportation activities in ecologically and culturally sensitive areas of the Peruvian Amazon, including areas inhabited by uncontacted or isolated indigenous communities. Contact: James Jennings, President Hunt Oil Company 1445 Ross at Field, Suite 1400 Dallas TX 75202-2785 Phone: 214 978-8605 Fax: 214 855-6712 jjennings at huntoil.com Steve Suellentrop Vice President, Camisea Development Project Hunt Oil Company 1445 Ross at Field, Suite 1400 Dallas, TX 75202-2785 Phone: 214 978-8658 Fax: 214 855-6712 ssuellentrop at huntoil.com Sandy Weill CEO Citigroup Center 153 East 53rd St New York, NY 10043 Phone: 1-800-285-3000 Fax: 212 793-8999 send copies to: chris.beale at citicorp.com iris.gold at ssmb.com From mstainsby at tao.ca Sun Feb 17 04:58:23 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 03:58:23 -0800 Subject: [R-G] ELF/ ALF labelled terrorists Message-ID: <012501c1b7aa$6709bfa0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> AP. 12 February 2002. FBI: Radicals Double As Terror Group. WASHINGTON -- A radical environmental group that has carried out 600 attacks since 1996 has become the largest and most active U.S.-based terrorist group, the FBI's top domestic terrorism officer said Tuesday. But a House committee's efforts to shed light on the Earth Liberation Front and its companion, the Animal Liberation Front, were frustrated when former ELF spokesman Craig Rosebraugh refused to answer questions from members of Congress. "I'll take the Fifth Amendment," Rosebraugh said more than 50 times to questions ranging from whether he helped produce an ELF training film to who was paying for his attorney. Rosebraugh was subpoenaed to testify at the request of Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., chairman of the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. Rosebraugh has said he relayed anonymous messages on ELF's behalf from 1997 until he quit last September, but had no firsthand knowledge of any attacks. FBI expert James F. Jarboe said that since 1996, the ALF and ELF have caused $43 million in damage in more than 600 attacks, ranging from spray-painting buildings and breaking windows to firebombing fur farms, research centers and a ski resort. "They're the most active. They cause the most damage," Jarboe said, although white supremacist groups are still considered more dangerous because their attacks are often aimed at people. Nobody has been killed in an ELF or ALF attack, but McInnis said it is wrong to think of the ecoterrorists as "nature-loving hippies" or misguided youths. "These are hardened criminals," he said. "They are dangerous, they are well-funded, they are savvy, sophisticated and stealthy, and if their violence continues to escalate, it is only a matter of time before their parade of terror results in a lost human life." In a report the ELF and ALF issued last month, the groups claimed responsibility for 67 illegal actions in 2001, including burning down a $5.4 million horticulture building at the University of Washington. In 1998, the ELF claimed responsibility for an arson attack at Vail Ski Resort that did $12 million in damage. Asked about Inslee's criticism after the hearing, Rosebraugh said, "I was forced to come to Washington, D.C. I'm not going to answer that question." Rosebraugh's attorney, Stuart Sugarman, said he wanted "to thank Mr. McInnis for providing attention for this important cause." ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Sun Feb 17 14:29:05 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:29:05 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Wed., Feb 20: National Day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Immigrants Message-ID: The National day of Solidarity with Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Immigrants Wednesday, February 20th 4-6 p.m. at 15th Ave. and High St., Columbus, OH Stand in solidarity with Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Immigrants! 1500 immigrants have been detained post September 11th. They are being held indefinitely without being charged or provided with legal representation. Family members are not being told where their loved ones are being held, or even if they are being detained! In solidarity, wear blue triangles (which represent the measures taken in Nazi Germany to categorize people for different concentration camps) and come out to the Wednesday action. We have a banner, flyers, and visual props. Drums, noise makers, pots, pans, dance, theatre, etc. are all welcome. Hope to see you there, Contact Noor Alam @ blotichoti at hotmail.com for more info. Sponsored by members of the OSU Committee for Justice in Palestine. -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Sun Feb 17 14:50:12 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:50:12 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Mon., Feb. 18: CUSAS & CWA Press Conference to Support Strikers Message-ID: Monday, February 18 CUSAS (Columbus United Students Against Sweatshops) & CWA Local 4501 Joint Press Conference Time: 3:00 p.m. Location: outside the Ohio State University Main Library (1858 Neil Ave. Mall, Columbus, OH), on the Oval side, in front of the statue of William Oxley CUSAS is a group of students active in ending sweatshop abuses in factories that produce OSU apparel. CWA Local 4501 is the labor union that represents public workers on the OSU campus and at the OSU Hospitals. This press conference will be the first major public Student and Labor gathering at OSU since CWA Local 4501's strike and student sit-in in Bricker Hall during May 2000. CUSAS and CWA Local 4501 will express their support for the Derby, New York New Era Cap Co. workers and members of CWA Local 14177 who have been on strike for six months. OSU has a licensing agreement with New Era Cap Co. In August 2001, one of OSU's monitors, the Worker Rights Consortium, released a report documenting New Era Cap Co.'s numerous violations of OSU's Code of Conduct in the areas of health and safety and freedom of association. We feel it is unjust for OSU to profit from the exploitation of workers. CUSAS has demanded that President Kirwan temporarily suspend OSU's contract with the New Era Cap Co. until the strike is resolved equitably, health and safety violations are corrected in the Derby factory, and New Era management stops their illegal union-busting tactics. You will be receiving a Press Release with more information on 2/15/02. Contact: Mary Beth Tschantz, 614-538-1761 (home), . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Sun Feb 17 15:55:48 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 17:55:48 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Switzerland Indymedia SHUT DOWN! Message-ID: <006a01c1b806$3de1d750$33378d18@Indy1> Switzerland Indymedia SHUT OFF!!! (english) by Clara 2:18pm Sun Feb 17 '02 (Modified on 2:43pm Sun Feb 17 '02) All began with publishing of a cartoon by Latuff where a jewish kid in Warsaw ghetto says "i'm a palestinian". Fascist jewish AKDH association attacked indymedia switzerland saying it is an antisemit cartoon. Switzerland.indymedia.org is now shut off. Full article here: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=136575&group=webcast From mstainsby at tao.ca Sun Feb 17 21:43:41 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 20:43:41 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Announcement of War Times Message-ID: <00f201c1b836$d7580820$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> Newspaper works against war effort NEW PUBLICATION HOPES TO SEND WORD NATIONWIDE By Marilee Enge Mercury News http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/2690886.htm A new anti-war newspaper has begun publication in the East Bay, hoping to promote what it bills as a more humane, less jingoistic alternative to the gung-ho militarism of President Bush.Bob Wing, managing editor of War Times, said he was disturbed by the U.S. government's response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Instead of conducting what Wing believed to be a just war to avenge the loss of American lives, he said the Bush administration was killing innocent Afghans and trampling on civil liberties at home.While other Americans were mounting flags on their cars, Wing began talking to everyone he knew about a project that could counter what he saw as a warmongering atmosphere taking hold of the nation.The result is War Times, launched by Wing and a small group of writers and activists, which made its debut in a West Oakland warehouse Saturday. After publishing a prospectus of War Times online, Wing said the public response was overwhelming. A first run of 75,000 copies is 10 times the number originally planned by the group.``The thing blew up on us,'' he said. Requests for copies came from every corner of the country, and the idea of starting small and targeting only active peace groups ended.The newspaper contains articles in both English and Spanish.The first issue of War Times features an interview with Danny Glover, an actor and activist who shares the view that bombing Afghanistan was wrong. Other articles criticize U.S. military deployment in the Philippines, stepped-up attacks on Palestinians and the cost of the war on terrorism.The lead article, by Jung Hee Choi, a War Times editor, profiles a New Yorker who lost her brother in the World Trade Center and an Afghan-American woman who lost a large number of family members in U.S. airstrikes on Kandahar. The two women met recently, and have used their personal tragedies as a platform for opposing the U.S. war.``The loss is the same,'' said Hee Choi. ``There is a common humanity that people share.''While the stories touch on a variety of left-wing causes, Wing said the only political agenda of War Times is shining a spotlight on the injustice of war. ``Our viewpoint will be, in general, war hurts a lot of people,'' from Afghan villagers who lost their homes to non-citizen airport employees who are losing their jobs.Wing is a writer and editor who honed his activism during the student strikes at University of California-Berkeley in the 1960s. More recently, he edited a magazine published by Applied Research Center, an East Bay-based think tank that focuses on issues of race and education.Launching a newspaper to protest government policy is a venerable American tradition, and one with strong roots in the Bay Area. But Wing points out that the landscape for publishing has changed since the '60s. Now there are free alternative weeklies in every coffee shop, and a small anti-war publication has to carve out its own niche. Wing wants to emulate the muckraking work of journalist I.F. Stone and the social commentary of African-American writer W.E.B. du Bois.``We need thousands of people like you to share War Times with other people who question war, racial profiling and the curtailment of civil liberties,'' the editors write in their first editorial.For now, the staff is all volunteer and there are no permanent offices. The paper is free, and interested readers are being asked to help distribute it.Distribution will be national, and the editors hope in particular to reach readers in the middle of the country, where anti-war viewpoints are not as accepted as in the Bay Area. IF YOU'RE INTERESTED For more information, contact War Times at wartimes at attbi.comContact Marilee Enge at menge at sjmercury.com or (415) 394-6895. The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/local/2690886.htm (c) 2001 bayarea and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 18 18:06:21 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 20:06:21 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Military Invasion and Wide-Scale Bulldozing Activities South Gaza City Message-ID: <010301c1b8e1$a508e320$33378d18@Indy1> These D-11 Caterpillar bulldozers are huge armored machines! I can't believe that the Israeli's have special bulldozers for the sole purpose of demolishing Palestinian refugee homes!! Then again, they partake in just about every other form of cowardly aggression. **************************************************************************** ******************************* Military Invasion and Wide-Scale Bulldozing Activities South Gaza City (english) by Majdur 1:59pm Mon Feb 18 '02 (Modified on 3:09pm Mon Feb 18 '02) Photo: Palestinian boys throw stones at an Israeli army bulldozer cutting trees near the army checkpoint at the West Bank town of Qalandia February 18, 2002. REUTERS/Mahfouz Abu Turk Full article and picture here: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=137049&group=webcast From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 18 23:41:52 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 22:41:52 PST Subject: [R-G] 'Counter-terrorism' strategies for investors - CBS.MarketWatch.com Message-ID: <200202190641.g1J6fqB14717@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 00:23:24 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 23:23:24 PST Subject: [R-G] DOZENS FACE JAIL AS 'QUEEN'S PARK RIOT' CASES GO TO TRIAL Message-ID: <200202190723.g1J7NOB08094@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 00:31:52 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 23:31:52 PST Subject: [R-G] OK, George, make with the friendly bombs - Terry Jones Message-ID: <200202190731.g1J7VqB12735@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 00:34:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 23:34:14 PST Subject: [R-G] Pipeline politics - Hindustan Times Message-ID: <200202190734.g1J7YEB13826@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 00:36:06 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 23:36:06 PST Subject: [R-G] No more Mr Scrupulous Guy - The Guardian Message-ID: <200202190736.g1J7a6B14828@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 00:39:05 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 23:39:05 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush 2000 Adviser Offered To Use Clout to Help Enron - WP Message-ID: <200202190739.g1J7d5B16369@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From mstainsby at tao.ca Tue Feb 19 13:18:13 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:18:13 -0800 Subject: [R-G] NPR Reporter taking cash for pro Israeli slant Message-ID: <00e701c1b982$8f8aa640$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ********** http://electronicIntifada.net/actionitems/020219gradstein.html Electronic Intifada, February 19th, 2002 SPECIAL REPORT: NPR'S LINDA GRADSTEIN TAKES CASH PAYMENTS FROM PRO-ISRAELI GROUPS By Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry ST. PAUL, MN & CHICAGO, IL--National Public Radio's Israel correspondent Linda Gradstein has received cash honoraria from pro-Israeli organizations in what appears to be a clear violation of NPR policy, an Electronic Intifada investigation has revealed. Gradstein has not only accepted such honoraria in the past, but continues to do so in spite of being instructed not to by NPR management. Indeed, this evening, February 19, Gradstein is scheduled to give a lecture hosted by several pro-Israel organizations at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for which she is receiving yet another cash honorarium. Gradstein has long been criticized for her consistent injection of pro-Israeli bias into NPR's reporting of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (see electronicIntifada.net and abunimah.org and search "gradstein" for numerous examples) Following the revelation that some journalists had received payments in the form of "speakers fees" from bankrupt energy giant Enron, NPR correspondent Juan Williams informed listeners of the network's Morning Edition program on February 8, that "At NPR, reporters are not allowed to give speeches to groups they report on to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest." Yet Gradstein has long been a favorite on the pro-Israeli lecture circuit, especially with Hillel, a nationwide organization which in close cooperation with AIPAC (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) and the Israeli government, works to promote a strongly pro-Israeli agenda on college campuses. In fact, at least in one case, Hillel openly acknowledges that it sees Linda Gradstein as a propagandist for Israel. A page at the Hillel website [archived PDF at http://electronicIntifada.net/actionitems/LindaGradsteinatGWU.pdf], providing a summary and evaluation of an April 2001 lecture Gradstein gave at George Washington University, states that inviting her to the campus was specifically for the purpose of "educating a broad cross-section of the campus about Israel from a Jewish perspective" and that this would be "a strong tool in the fight against the Palestinian propaganda" on the campus. Gradstein was paid $2,500 for this appearance, according to the Hillel evaluation, $2,000 of which was raised from Hamagshimim, a group that describes itself (youngjudaea.org/html/university.html) as "a dynamic pro-Israel/Zionist movement for young adults." Our investigations also revealed that Gradstein received a $1,000 honorarium from the Amy Adina Schulman Fund, a foundation whose stated funding criteria include promoting "Zionist youth movement" activities, for a lecture she gave in Princeton in April 2001. These are only two examples of the dozens of appearances Gradstein has made since 1993 for many of which she has received cash honoraria and in-kind benefits from pro-Israeli lobby groups. On February 8, The Electronic Intifada's Ali Abunimah sent an email to NPR Vice President for News and Information, Bruce Drake and NPR Ombudsman, Jeffrey Dvorkin asking whether these past instances and the lecture Gradstein is scheduled to give tonight, February 19, at the University of Minnesota, sponsored by Hillel and Friends of Israel, constitute violations of NPR's conflict of interest policy. Drake replied in a February 12 email that "I have advised Ms. Gradstein of the policy stated on our air the other day, and going forward, told her that I expected her to honor it." We interpreted this statement as not only an acknowledgment that Gradstein had been violating NPR's policy, but an assurance that she would no longer be permitted to do so. In an attempt to clarify matters further, Abunimah wrote to Drake again on February 14 to ask specifically whether Gradstein's appearance at the University of Minnesota would violate the policy, given that the event was scheduled to occur after NPR's on-air restatement of its general policy, and Drake's specific assurance that Gradstein would stop accepting money from pro-Israeli groups. On February 18, Drake replied: "Ms. Gradstein has been told clearly what NPR's policies are on this matter and that, in the future, she is to adhere strictly to it." Yet, investigations by The Electronic Intifada determined that Gradstein plans to go ahead with tonight's lecture and that the University of Minnesota Hillel chapter will pay Gradstein a cash honorarium and cover part of her travel expenses. We also learned that Gradstein is currently on a multi-city tour of the Midwestern United States in which she is scheduled to speak to other pro-Israeli lobby groups from which she will also receive payments. The startling picture that emerges is that Gradstein has been violating NPR's conflict of interest policy for years, and continues to do so even after she has been advised in clear terms not to, and we have been assured that she would not. We affirm that Gradstein has a First Amendment right to speak to any groups she chooses. But for a reporter who is assigned to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to accept thousands of dollars in cash and expenses from groups whose primary or sole objective is to promote a pro-Israeli political agenda is a gross violation of basic journalistic ethics as well as NPR's own policy. We can conclude that for some reason or other, Gradstein is effectively exempt from NPR's own regulations. These revelations only broaden existing concerns about the integrity of NPR's Middle East reporting and the honesty of Linda Gradstein. NPR needs to understand that Gradstein's flouting of its policy, combined with her usually biased, misleading reporting, seriously and consistently undermine NPR's credibility. There are minimal standards for competent reporting and journalistic ethics, but the sad truth is that Linda Gradstein rarely meets either standard. Anyone who wishes to contact NPR and express their views on this matter should immediately write to Jeffrey Dvorkin, National Public Radio Ombudsman via ombudsman at npr.org Please write an original letter and do not simply copy & paste the information above. As always, be brief, polite, quote accurately, and include your name, address, and telephone number (which most publications require to ensure publication). Please send copies of your letter and any responses or printing of your letter (including the original, if it was edited) to info at electronicIntifada.net. This special report/action item (#22, 19 FEBRUARY 2002) was prepared by Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From aaron at istop.com Tue Feb 19 13:24:33 2002 From: aaron at istop.com (aaron at istop.com) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 15:24:33 -0500 (EST) Subject: [R-G] mike moores"stupid white guy" new book,#1 at amozon Message-ID: <20020219202433.AB0151703E@ns.istop.com> I'm With Stupid and Today Is the Day -- A Message from Michael Moore 2/19/02 Dear friends, Today is, frankly, a day I thought I would never see. It is the day my book goes on sale to the public. That should be a simple event, as it happens every day with dozens of books that find their way to the bookstores of America. But eight weeks ago it appeared as if this might never happen for my book, "Stupid White Men." In those dark December days, as I was told that "changes had to be made," I was left to wonder if the 50,000 copies that had already been printed were well on their way to some big shredder in Pennsylvania. That was the option I was given -- rewrite the book and "tone down your dissent," or face the prospect of your book being "pulped." I refused to change a word and the publisher backed down. And thus, today, you are able to read my book, uncensored. What an odd thing to say in a free society! "We have decided that you can now read Mike's book!" I have had a small taste of the New Order in which we now live, and, folks, I gotta say, I don't like it one bit. The only good thing to come out of it is that they made a big mistake trying to silence the wrong guy. I had suggested to my publisher that maybe they should slap a sticker on the cover of my book reading, "APPROVED BY THE OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY." I think any organization that is, in and of itself, an illusion meant to create a false sense of safety, should at least have its own seal with a gummy back. Can you keep a secret? This book is already at #1 on the expanded Amazon Nonfiction Bestseller List, and I got word today from two regional book distributors that the demand has been so high they are out of books! They were so desperate for more copies that they contacted the author directly (as if I had a few spare boxes of them out in the garage!). I don't want the Axis of Uber-Evil -- Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft -- to find out how well the book has been doing before it even goes on sale, as they must continue to believe the media mantra of, "ALL Americans are behind George W. Bush!" and "Hail W, for it is you who has the HIGHEST approval ratings ever!" Let them take heart in that nonsense (who wouldn't tell a stranger, a "pollster," who has called you at home at 9 o'clock at night and asked you if you "APPROVE" of your "President," just as you were looking out your window and noticing that your neighbor, Fasoul Hussein Abdulah -- you know, the friendly guy who owns the 7-11 down the street -- is being hauled away by the Men In Black! "Damn straight I approve of Mr. Bush!" you scream into the phone...). The longer they keep believing their "ratings," the larger our numbers will grow. Sunday's Zogby Poll already had Bush at his lowest rating since before 9-11. Trust me, it only gets better from here on out, and you are welcome to mark "Stupid White Men Day -- February, 19, 2002" as the beginning of the end for Kenny Boy's boy. So, today, I begin my month-long book tour across the country. If you'll recall from the film I made of my last outing, "The Big One," this can be one wild ride. It can also be no picnic. I am not going to make a movie this time. Instead, I am going to keep a simple diary on the road -- and I am going to make this diary open for you to view on my website. I promise to be as honest as I can, and I won't be pulling any punches. If the Motel 6 sucks in Syracuse, you'll hear about it. The diary -- "My Stupid Life: Mike's Book Tour Diary" -- can be read or heard (depending on what kind of equipment you have) by going to www.michaelmoore.com anytime after tonight. Please mark it and check it out each day as I think you'll find it mildly interesting and sincerely libelous. Tonight, I will be going on "The O'Reilly Factor" on the Fox Nudnick Channel to be interrupted -- I mean interviewed -- by its host, Bill O'Reilly. The fun begins at 8pm ET/PT, and you have to be part of the cable elite to witness this historic meeting of what hath become of Ireland's once great sons. At 10pm ET/PT tonight, you can catch me with Aaron Brown on CNN. Finally, I want you to know that I will be looking forward to only one thing during this entire book tour -- Opening Day of the 2002 Major League Baseball season! Why? Because that is the day I am asking George W. Bush to resign. And I want the resignation to take place right in the middle of Enron Field in Houston during the 7th-inning stretch of the Astros-Brewers game. I've asked if I can throw out the first pitch at 4:05pm CT. I mean, can there be a more perfect way to end the madness -- Bush, Lay, Mike, Texas, America's Favorite Pastime, and the visiting team from a Blue State owned by the Commissioner of Baseball (who will hand over his job to the ex-"president" as the fans sing "Da Do En-ron-ron Da Do En-ron")? C'mon, George, are ya listening? Just step up to the microphone and go out like Gehrig! Opening Day, April 2, 2002. Yoooou're Ouuuuuuuut!!! Yours, Michael Moore Author, "Stupid White Men" Disputed Gold Medal Winner, Ice Dancing Write me at: StupidWhiteMen at aol.com Write to Michael Moore Michael Moore's site TO ORDER "STUPID WHITE MEN," GO TO... Amazon.com .. or here ... Get the book TO ORDER SEASON TWO OF "THE AWFUL TRUTH," GO TO... Awful Truth - 2nd Season From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 13:53:50 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:53:50 PST Subject: [R-G] NPR'S LINDA GRADSTEIN TAKES CASH PAYMENTS FROM PRO-ISRAELI GROUPS Message-ID: <200202192053.g1JKroB26552@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 14:09:12 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:09:12 PST Subject: [R-G] EX-DEFENSE CHIEFS: LET'S JUST GET OUT Message-ID: <200202192109.g1JL9CB11781@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 14:11:07 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:11:07 PST Subject: [R-G] Venezuela - Washington-Backed Coup Plot Update Message-ID: <200202192111.g1JLB7B13558@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 14:12:22 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:12:22 PST Subject: [R-G] Seoul Boosts Security After Protest - LAT Message-ID: <200202192112.g1JLCMB14893@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 14:13:28 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:13:28 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush Is Dogged by 'Axis of Evil' in Visit to Japan - LAT Message-ID: <200202192113.g1JLDSB15959@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 19 14:14:37 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:14:37 PST Subject: [R-G] Making Money, the Bush Way - LAT Message-ID: <200202192114.g1JLEbB17100@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Wed Feb 20 08:01:17 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 08:01:17 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Racist stuff in Cochise County, some labor history, and the eternally good words of George W.P. Hunt Message-ID: <000701c1ba1f$7535d7e0$68a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: I am very glad to quote herewith the time-honoured words of the "Old Governor" of Arizona -- George W.P. Hunt: words which apply with the force of an old-time single-jack metal miner's hammer to the current mess in which our country swims today -- and to the people responsible for it. This posted article deals with very current Klan-type, anti-Mexican Anglo-racism centering in Cochise County, Arizona. Nothing new about these vile goings on in this general region -- except that the nature and conduct of the current US administration et al. and the generally poisonous national mood have provided, in the minds of these thugs, carte blanche. Fortunately, there have always been many decent and courageous people of all ethnicities in the Border Country and well beyond in all directions. But the history of this region has been dramatic and sanguinary. Cochise County [Arizona], was the scene on July 12, 1917, of the Phelps-Dodge Copper organized "Loyalty League" roundup and deportation of 1200 striking copper workers at Bisbee [not counting three that were killed.] This was in the context of the great IWW-led copper strike that stretched from Butte, Anaconda, and Great Falls down to the Mexican border. The 1200 were taken without food or water by box cars and dumped at Columbus, New Mexico. They were Chicano, Anglo, Oriental, and Native -- either members of the IWW or members of Mine-Mill [or both, a practice that actually lingered through the 1950s in the Western copper situation.] The Bisbee Deportation followed the July 10 deportation of about 100 IWW and Mine-Mill members -- at Jerome, Arizona, just south of Flagstaff -- by a "Loyalty League" organized by the United Verde Copper Company. These workers were dumped in California and then driven back into Arizona by a California sheriff's posse -- and finally imprisoned at Prescott, Arizona. In the early morning hours of August 1, 1917, Frank H. Little, Cherokee Indian and Chairman of the IWW General Executive Board, was taken from his Butte boardinghouse by gunmen employed by the Anaconda Copper Company. With a rope around his neck, he was dragged by automobile through the outlying streets of Butte for two miles before being hanged from a railroad bridge trestle. Frank Little, crippled from a car wreck at Jerome, was on crutches and was in Butte to assist the strike in Montana where he had just delivered a stirring anti-War speech. His funeral was the largest ever held in the State of Montana. No one was ever punished for any of these atrocities. But, soon after these horrific events, the "liberal" Wilson administration moved through the Justice Department to round up 150 top IWW leaders on charges of violating the "Espionage Act" -- hastily passed legislation outlawing anything construed as "interfering" with the War effort [including, of course, strikes fundamentally motivated by static wages and rampant inflation.] In three massive Federal trials in 1918 -- Chicago, Wichita, Sacramento -- the defendants were all convicted and sentenced to heavy prison terms. Eventually, as earlier with also victimized Gene Debs, they were released by President Warren Harding. Arizona [with New Mexico] had only become a state in 1912 and its fiery Governor George W.P. Hunt -- who had come into the Territory on a mule and who was essentially a socialist -- later denounced the brutal vigilante actions against copper workers in an extraordinary address before the Arizona Legislature: "At this juncture I am sorely troubled for lack of a word, a phrase, an expression with which to give poignant utterance to that which is in my heart; to adequately describe a certain sort of thing in human shape that wears the outward semblance of a man, but yet is a craven cur; whose heart is as malignant as a cesspool; whose mind is a sink of infamy. . . .Such a thing is the "profiteering patrioteer," the detestable hypocrite who, with sanctimonious demeanor, goes through the mummery of patriotic service, though striving all the while to profit by his country's dire distress; to vent a personal prejudice under the guise of patriotism, or to gain for himself a pecuniary advantage under the starry folds of his country's flag with which he drapes his sorry soulless figure. There is no word in all the range of human tongue from Sanskrit to Anglo-Saxon with which to describe this creature, so I abandon the effort in despair." >From Vernon H. Jensen, Heritage of Conflict: Labor Relations in the Nonferrous Metals Industry up to 1930 [Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1950], pp. 426-427. Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] =================================================== Vigilante Group recruiting members to patrol Mexican border The News [Mexico City] Maria Leon, EFE - 2/20/2002 DOUGLAS, Arizona - Human rights groups have complained about Operation Falcon, a campaign launched by the anti-immigrant group Ranch Rescue in an effort to recruit volunteers to help guard the border between Arizona and Mexico. Through its Web page, the group made up of Texas ranchers has invited U.S. citizens to participate in a campaign aimed at stopping illegal immigration in Cochise County, Arizona, this spring. The group says members of terrorist organizations may have entered the United States illegally through that county, which continues to witness the most activity of any on the border between Mexico and the United States. Ranch Rescue maintains it is now more important than ever to put border security into the hands of "good" citizens because the Border Patrol has been ineffective in stemming the tide of illegal immigration. This is the second time Ranch Rescue has threatened to patrol the roads along the border between Douglas and Agua Prieta, Mexico. In the past, the group has distributed flyers inviting volunteers to join in a "hunt" for undocumented immigrants, whom they describe as criminals who come to destroy ranches, rob and smuggle drugs. According to the information on its Web page, the group plans to descend on the border between Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora during the last two weeks of March. Immigration attorney Isabel Garcia, director of the Human Rights Coalition of Arizona, said Ranch Rescue was coming to Arizona at the invitation of Douglas ranchers. A group of armed ranchers led by Roger Barnett has devoted itself to detaining undocumented immigrants in the Douglas area. Barnett has stated on several occasions that he has detained and turned over approximately 1,000 undocumented immigrants to the Border Patrol. Garcia said the presence of this anti-immigrant group in Arizona is another consequence of continued militarization along the border and unjust U.S. immigration laws. "These groups are taking advantage of the uncertainty existing in our country to spread their racist hatred and resentment against undocumented immigrants," Garcia insisted. The immigration attorney also said undocumented immigrants crossing the border at Douglas are generally Mexicans or Central Americans looking for work. Illegal immigration has once again become a hot topic in Arizona, where legislators and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials will meet next week to study a possible increase in the number of agents assigned to the area. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Wed Feb 20 08:56:20 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 10:56:20 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Fw: INDYMEDIA ITALY UNDER ATTACK Message-ID: <006e01c1ba27$236c8550$33378d18@Indy1> GENOVA - REPRESSIONE Feb 20 2002 Indymedia Under Attack! http://italy.indymedia.org 7.00. am Firenze. Torino . Bologna, Taranto.Carabinieri (paramilitary police) awake some social centers addressed as indymedia centers. It seems to be back in a demo. They are looking for audio and video material from Indypendent Media Center (Indymedia): it is a national police operation. Still going on. Scajola (our Interiori Minister) goes beyond words and Genoa is back in the headlines. Independent information pays the price of the Single Thought. Genoa aftermath begins to be more clearly outlined, after misty and partial enquiries and investigation looking for ppolice violence evidences, now repression kicks in. Looking for excuses. [english] [ Press Release ] [ Gabrio (Torino) search warrant 1 | 2 ] [ Report search from "Casa Occupata GSA Cecco Rivolta" (Firenze) ] [ Report search from TPO (Bologna) ] http://italy.indymedia.org http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=137889&group=webcast http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1102&group=webcast http://adelaide.indymedia.org.au/front.php3?article_id=1963&group=webcast From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Wed Feb 20 13:39:33 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 15:39:33 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Police Given ORDER to SHOOT at G8 in Genoa Message-ID: <00d801c1ba4e$b4548d20$33378d18@Indy1> Police Given ORDER TO SHOOT at G8 in Genoa! by Luke Baker 12:33pm Wed Feb 20 '02 ROME (Reuters) - Italy's interior minister faced calls for his resignation on Saturday after revealing he had ordered police to shoot any protesters who breached security lines at the G8 summit in Genoa last year. http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1105&group=webcast From mstainsby at tao.ca Thu Feb 21 03:56:11 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 02:56:11 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Fidel states humanity's struggle is against globalization. Message-ID: <00b101c1bac6$6064e340$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> AIN. 21 February 2002. Fidel states humanity's struggle is against globalization. HAVANA -- Commander in Chief, Fidel Castro pointed out today the struggle against neo liberal globalization is the common cause of all humanity. At the closing event of tonight, the IV International Meeting of Economists about Globalization and Problems of Development. Fidel warned about the serious dangers chasing the world, from the environment point of view and the creation of the nuclear anti missile shield. Fidel considered ridiculous the idea about North Korea or Iran threatening the North American territory, a pretext to mask the imperial attempts of total and absolute domain of the planet. Fidel ascertained that during this fourth meeting some issues were listened to, of great interest, at the same time he highlighted the great differences between the first and present edition, due to the events occurred in the world during last years, but specially during the last six months. He continued explaining that in 1998, years of economic growth were added, of miracle in the Eastern Asia or of the boom of the North American economy, which extended until the end of the year 2000. Since then, reduction of industrial index started to be seen, of decrease of the strong sources of employment of USA and began to happen what many expected to occur as an inevitable consequence of changes. He outlined the outstanding discussions being held in the meeting, Argentina's situation, facing the paradigm of neo liberal globalization and turned today in the most concrete example of world failure. During his speech, Fidel criticized Washington's prevailing position of all international financial facilities, in which it is impossible to adopt a decision without their consent, and how USA has forced them to change their original mission with respect to their strategic interests. He augurs this type of meeting will be every time more interesting, from the relevant news to be accumulated during the next 12 months, "since transcendental changes have occurred from the economic and political point of view," he ascertained. He expressed the FTAA's impact will be discussed again and warned that one of the dangers of this Yankee endeavor is the people's lack of information, who suffer high levels of illiteracy and lack of preparation. The Cuban President denounced how Latin America was enormously indebted at the back of parliaments and Ministers Council, in adopted decisions by high authorities, process which coincided with the military dictatorship time in the area. He recalled then, meetings taking place in Havana in 1985, of students, farmers, women, intellectuals, social organizations and personalities of all kinds, before the external debt crisis of the region, effort guided to create opinions, moving masses and trying to persuade leaders. Fidel referred, expected results were not obtained through the mobilization of creditors to avoid the burst of a crisis with easing solutions. He affirmed third world countries today are burden with a foreign debt reaching two millions of millions of dollars, from which some 800 thousands correspond to Latin America. Likewise, Fidel accused the World Trade Organization, facility which was qualified as a sacking instrument in the hands of the world's owner. He referred to the damage being causes to Humanity and to the anti globalization world movement, the terrorist attacks against Washington and New York and qualified the present context of the world military dictatorship. However, he outlined, in spite of these adverse circumstances, the answering movement was not discourage itself and stated as an evidence the recent meeting of the World Social Forum of Porto Alegre, that gathered some 50-60 thousands persons. Commander in Chief alleged many say history is coming to its end and really forget that really we are at the end of Prehistory, of barbaric acts and of wild ways similar to the first tribes, up to the point man is not allowed to think. He indicated humanity is in a decisive stage of history, with an unequal exchange, with new forms of plundering, effects provoked by neo liberal globalization, affecting the political, economic, ethic and moral order. He continued saying how at 10 years of the disappearance of the socialist camp and the existence of a single superpower, nobody worries about social injustices, however the communication mass media's domain is greater. Likewise, he reflected about the fatal influence of propaganda that with modern technologies reach the whole planet, as the universal flood of lies, although he recognized the objectivity of some news agencies and television that have forecast the resistance of Cubans. Fidel recalled that Cuba has shown how much it can be done with few resources and a minimum of conscious and stated the example that at the beginning of the Special Period, the country was able to incorporate 30 thousands new doctors, making it a difference with other nations where public health is traded. The President of State and Ministers Councils affirmed that commercialization of basic services is the proof of indifference of the powerful ones towards education of the people and the death of hundreds of children under age (0-5) in any poor country. This is what the world today has, a super developed Capitalism over calamity bases of humanity and stolen money of third world countries, he called everyone to transmit these truths, to promote consciousness in order not to approve and imposed projects such as FTAA. He reiterated the need of explaining to the masses what International Monetary Fund is and the negative thing neo liberalism is, which has not managed to reevaluate moneys of Latin American nations where its formulas are applied. ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby Rad-Green List: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green Leninist-International list: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Thu Feb 21 15:10:10 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:10:10 -0700 Subject: [R-G] LAIR OF HUNTERBEAR ADDITIONS [ADDENDA] Message-ID: <002401c1bb24$899bf240$5ea90e3f@ibm22761429477> There've been several new additions -- and several expansions -- with respect to our very large Lair of Hunterbear social justice website www.hunterbear.org We function here under rather "basic" circumstances -- but things do turn out pretty well. A] We have posted, on two related pages, several examples of my father's Native American art. He was born Frank Gray [Micmac, St. Francis Abenaki, and St. Regis Mohawk] and then renamed John Randall Salter. He was born 1898 and died in 1978. He held the B.A. in Fine Art from the Chicago Art Institute, M.A. in Art from the University of Iowa, and his M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. [He was the first known Native American to receive an M.F.A. degree.] The first of the two related art pages http://www.hunterbear.org/my_father_was_micmac_and_st.htm This contains the oil painting, "Seama Village Family, Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, 1940s" and the oil painting "Nadine, Hopi, Northern Arizona, 1950," and his last woodblock Christmas print which is drawn either from Laguna Pueblo or San Felipe Pueblo, late 1977. The second of the two related art pages http://www.hunterbear.org/dad's%20art%20continued.htm This contains the oil painting "Mexican Indian Lady, State of Guanajuato, 1953," and the oil painting "Los Locos, Mexican Indian Dancers at San Miguel de Allende, 1978," and the oil painting "Mount Merriam and the Leupp Road to the Navajo Reservation, 1961." In his long career as an artist [and professor], my father worked in oil, watercolor, woodblock print, stone sculpture, ceramics. Some of his art -- including the above pieces -- is held by me. Many pieces are owned by individual collectors, Native tribes, and Catholic and Anglican [Episcopal] churches. Much of his work is now in the possession of -- and recently inventoried by -- Northern Arizona University which has exhibited many pieces and plans to exhibit many more -- some permanently. B] We have added new material to my Background Narrative [which also contains detailed material on my father as well as me.] http://www.hunterbear.org/narrative.htm C] We now have two related, developing pages for the Native American Commission [Socialist Party, USA] http://www.hunterbear.org/native_american_commission_page.htm http://www.hunterbear.org/NA%20Commission2.htm D] We want to again bring to your attention our very full page on the Mine-Mill Conspiracy Case -- involving an extraordinarily vicious and intense union-busting and strike-breaking effort by the metal mining corporations and the United States government. This has direct relevancy to the poisonously anti-union and anti-civil libertarian atmosphere in the United States today. Our discussion includes, among other things, the very excellent 1960 Mine- Mill Defense Committee pamphlet, "The Mine-Mill Conspiracy Case," by noted American labor writer, Sid Lens, and with an introduction by Socialist Party leader, Norman Thomas. http://www.hunterbear.org/Mine-Millconspiracycase.htm E] And also we have the page WOLFSKIN ROBE, GUNS, DRUM, STONE AXE, STETSON, PIPE http://www.hunterbear.org/wolfskin.htm And there's more -- many of the new items listed in the top portion of our Index [Directory.] In Solidarity - Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] [John R Salter, Jr] Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 21 16:17:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:17:14 PST Subject: [R-G] Pentagon Readies Efforts to Sway Sentiment Abroad Message-ID: <200202212317.g1LNHEB21670@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 21 16:19:58 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:19:58 PST Subject: [R-G] Fidel states humanity's struggle is against globalization Message-ID: <200202212319.g1LNJwB24225@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 21 16:22:44 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:22:44 PST Subject: [R-G] Canada Alters Security Policies to Ease Concerns of U.S. Message-ID: <200202212322.g1LNMiB26920@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 21 16:26:05 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:26:05 PST Subject: [R-G] Something is Moving - Uri Avnery Message-ID: <200202212326.g1LNQ5B00081@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 21 16:30:36 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 15:30:36 PST Subject: [R-G] Ten days that shook the World Bank Message-ID: <200202212330.g1LNUaB04233@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 22 04:44:55 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 03:44:55 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Ain't no stopping US now (from A-list) Message-ID: <008d01c1bb96$5a1ca600$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> (thanks to Michael Keaney from the a list) --- Ain't no stopping US now The Bush administration sees no particular virtue in seeking global consensus in its war on terrorism, because it has limited respect for governments whose opinions differ from its own, writes Julian Borger Wednesday February 20, 2002 After all the talk, George Bush actually comes face to face with the "axis of evil" today, peering into the demilitarised zone between South and North Korea, a frontier known in the president's increasingly Reaganesque rhetoric as "the line dividing freedom and oppression". Echoes of Ronald Reagan have reverberated through Bush's week-long Asia tour, but never louder than at the DMZ. It is Mr Bush's version of the former president's "tear down this wall" speech in Berlin 15 years ago, and White House aides have been advertising its iconic significance. To heighten the anticipation Mr Bush even described it as "one of the most dangerous places on earth". The DMZ is at the same time one of the quietest places on the globe, and surrounded by the encouraging glow of some 37,000 US troops, it is one of the least challenging stops on the president's three-nation trip. The visits to both Tokyo and South Korea were polite but strained by the hosts' uneasiness over the whole "axis of evil" idea. The White House retinue toned down the oratory, and Mr Bush was not expected to use the fearsome phrase at the DMZ, but on the other hand there is no doubt that this administration stands by its frank warnings to Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In Seoul, President Kim Dae Jung was doubtless wondering what Bush had against him and his flagship "sunshine" policy of dialogue with the North. Mr Bush chose Kim's visit to Washington nearly a year ago to declare an end to the Clinton policy of engagement with Pyongyang. Then, just as Kim was reshuffling his government to prepare for a new diplomatic initiative, Mr Bush placed North Korea on the "axis of evil" list in his January 29 state of the union speech. The Japanese, as aware as anyone in the region of the dangers posed by Pyongyang, had also invested hope in Kim's "sunshine" initiative. Even before Bush arrived on Sunday, Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, had made it clear that he did not support the evil axis approach, and only endorsed it through gritted teeth when asked. The private reservations expressed in Tokyo are likely to come out in public when Mr Bush arrives in China at the end of the tour. Chinese officials have publicly cautioned the US against unilateral intervention in Iraq and will repeat those warnings to the president's face. China's concerns over US interventionism are likely to have as much impact as Japan's and South Korea's - that is to say, none at all. When the Europeans plead for caution, the Bush administration sees only lack of resolve. Privately, the president rails against spineless "European elites", the contemptuous phrase increasingly used in the conservative press to refer to European governments. The decision to topple Saddam Hussein was based on pure national security calculations, almost in isolation of the views of the rest of the world. Simply put, the Bush team decided in January that the very cause for extreme caution over Iraq was paradoxically the reason why action had to be taken sooner rather than later, this year rather than next. Saddam's chemical and biological weapons render any assault on his bunker a perilous affair, but putting off an attack will only make it more dangerous. The Iraqi dictatorship will have had more time to prepare. In a few years, it could even have a nuclear bomb. Only Saddam's absolute and unconditional acceptance of international weapons inspectors could muffle the drums of war in Washington, as unfettered inspections could potentially wreak more damage on the regime's arsenal than weeks of bombing. But for that very reason, the Iraqi dictator is unlikely to give the inspectors a free run. Washington has already declared its intention to topple him, and he surely knows his fearsome weapons are just about the only defences that make even the mighty Pentagon pause. The most likely scenarios are either an Iraqi refusal to accept inspectors or an initial acceptance followed by a return to Baghdad's policy of "cheat-and-retreat" over site visits. Either way, military action is all but inevitable by the end of the year, and the US central command has moved its service headquarters to the region in preparation. The marines are going to Bahrain where the navy is already based. The army is in Camp Doha, in Kuwait, and according to unconfirmed reports the special operations forces are setting up in Oman. The Saudi government is unlikely to allow the air force to use its state-of-the-art command centre at the Prince Sultan air base, but other Gulf garrisons could be pressed into service. Qatar is one option, increasingly mentioned in Washington. The Iraq invasion plan drawn up by the US joint chiefs of staff envisaged an overwhelming force of 200,000 US troops. That is now seen by military strategists as a pre-Afghanistan dinosaur. Smaller numbers of special forces troops, backing up trained and armed Iraqi opposition fighters are now viewed as the key prongs of an effective strategy that would minimise the vulnerability of US soldiers to chemical and biological attack. The CIA and the Green Berets are already reported to have begun preparations for training Iraqi opposition guerrillas in Kuwait and Kurd-run areas of northern Iraq, and rival Iraqi opposition leaders have rushed to Washington to ensure they get a share of the arm-and-train budget. Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress, said he is planning to hold a conference of senior defectors from Saddam's officer corps next month, but there is already controversy over which generals will attend. Some senior officers have denounced the conference as an attempt by Mr Chalabi to acquire some belated military legitimacy. The row is just one of many squabbles between rival opposition leaders that have provided a constant headache for the Iraq desk at the State Department. They also represent another important reason for caution. The risk of a post-Saddam Hussein implosion into chaos and fragmentation is as real now as it was 11 years ago, when the first President Bush passed up the opportunity to march to Baghdad. His son's advisors believe that once the US shows the Iraqi population that it is determined to get rid of Saddam, viable alternatives will present themselves. It is a strategy fraught with risk, but after September 11 risk no longer has a veto in the Bush White House. Full article at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,653223,00.ht ml Michael Keaney Mercuria Business School Martinlaaksontie 36 01620 Vantaa Finland ------------------------------------------- Macdonald Stainsby http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international We must not forget the lessons of history. We must resist-- now. "They are all Enron, we are all Argentina" - WEF protesters. ---- In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Fri Feb 22 07:20:14 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 07:20:14 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Professor Sami Al-Arian, Tenure, Attacks [and a North Dakota mention] Message-ID: <000701c1bbac$0db32da0$0ba90e3f@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: This recent interview [I've posted a key paragraph and the Link] with Professor Sami Al-Arian, University of South Florida, is via the Chronicle of Higher Education -- essentially the "Army Times" of the United States college/university faculty and administration world . I know little about the University of South Florida. My one long-standing and enduring friend in that setting was Professor Jim Silver, History, the courageous, embattled Ole Miss prof who was forced out of the Magnolia State after his "Closed Society" speech and book in 1963-64 and who eventually wound up there. Jim died many years ago. It seems obvious that Professor Al-Arian is a quite capable prof [computer science] who has come under fire for his pro-Islamic views in a [to me] rather strange state whose commitment to labor and liberalism and human rights has never been reassuring -- and in a country presently caught up in an extremely poisonous atmosphere of spontaneous and manufactured fear and hysteria. Fortunately, he has tenure. Tenure is critically necessary for any working teacher -- at any level. It's the basic job security bulwark/dike against the rivers of intolerance and bigotry and political hatchet jobs and economic reprisals. If, occasionally, it shields shabby teaching, it's still far better to fight for the preservation of its totality [as with free speech] rather than allow or tolerate a dangerous, sinister precedent-setting breach. Although relatively few teachers in the K-12 context nationally enjoy its accessibility, tenure is -- thanks to union activism -- gradually pervading that vast plantation. It is essentially pervasive in the college/university arena. It doesn't come easily. You have to be "successfully" somewhere for awhile -- sometimes as many as six or seven years -- before you get it. And you don't always get it -- and the reasons can range from an administrator's petty pique [a frequent reason] or vicious colleagues [not infrequent] or the fact that you might not be cut out talent-wise for the "groves of academe" [title of Mary McCarthy's charming '50s novel about cut-throat Machiavellianism in a choice little private college.] Wherever I've taught [and worked], I've always carried at least one and generally two or even three union cards [as I have wherever I've worked and I do carry three to this moment.] In the college/university setting, this can usually mean AFT, NEA, AAUP [or sometimes a coalition of two or more.] For example, at Navajo Community College, I was president of the AAUP [and we also represented staff employees] during an interesting period of heavy, perennial crisis -- generally thrust upon the college by the corrupt tribal administration of Peter MacDonald. We won those fights with grassroots solidarity and lawyers and broad community support. At University of North Dakota, we had to constantly battle a "boss" type of administration [in the Chicago sense], a consistently parsimonious state legislature, and pervasive faculty and staff timidity and cowardice. I was a popular [with the students] full Professor, sometime Indian Studies departmental chair and also did a stint as chair of the Honors committee, well-published always, and was a member of the graduate faculty. I was also very active on behalf of faculty and staff unionism at every point. In the latter 1980s and the early 1990s, we had to fight very hard on every front to protect faculty and staff jobs -- owing to the fact that extremely important-to-education tax measures [even passed by the N.D. legislature! ] had been defeated in December, 1989 in a state-wide referendum. The impact, internally and externally, on everything from Kindergarten to the N.D. colleges and universities was super-wicked and dangerous. At the very point this exploded, I was president of the UND Higher Education Association [NEA.] We fought hard on all fronts and were reasonably successful in shoring up and protecting faculty positions and most staff ones -- if the latter were formally situated within the University setting [and not, say, peripherally attached to a predominately private community hospital situation.] And we won some key victories on other issues. In time, administration et al. attacks on me -- which had been frequent over the years -- mounted with considerable intensity. Although it was certainly tough for a long time, I had tenure and, although there were efforts to crack that, it held -- fortunately for me and for every faculty person. [That whole situation, BTW, which also included important student, tribal, and community support, is substantially discussed on two related pages on our large social justice website http://www.hunterbear.org/undsituations.htm and http://www.hunterbear.org/situations2.htm [When I eventually retired from UND in the summer of '94, I was not, however, given the usual "honorary" emeritus status by the University administration. That continues as an interesting little issue to this moment and may -- I say, may -- be satisfactorily resolved soon. We shall see on that one.] Professor Al-Arian's situation is far, far more personally dangerous than mine ever was. His tenure is obviously under a concerted institutional / state / and Federal attack and he faces other, related threats as well. If his tenure status can be broken at the University of South Florida, it will constitute not only a fundamentally serious wrong to him but a threat to other college and university faculty persons -- in Florida as elsewhere. As the Red Scare mounted in the late 1940s, various state "Un-American activities" committees developed -- and joined their Federal counterparts [HUAC, SISS, FBI] in witch-hunting attacks in various colleges and universities. In the state of Washington, the Canwell Committee played havoc with tenure and academic freedom. Decades later, Washington state "apologized" to the surviving victims and/or their families and students. In this context of "Red-hunting" in the Groves, many former academic stalwarts -- such as Sidney Hook -- caved and surrendered to the slippery slopes of relativism. But many others did not. Professor Sami Al-Arian's University of South Florida arena is a most significant and critical one. Fortunately, as this paragraph from his recent Journal of Higher Education interview indicates, he has, among other dimensions, strong support from Labor. And here, too, is the link to the full Chronicle interview: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/professors_for_peace/message/2146 "Sami Al-Arian: I'm very grateful for the outpouring of support I received from many professors and academics from USF as well as from around the nation. The USF faculty senate voted 4 to 1 against the dismissal. The USF faculty union as well as the union's state chapter voted unanimously to support my case. Other labor unions have also provided their support. FIRE (The Foundation of Individual Rights in Education), a prominent private foundation defending the rights of higher education professors, has also given its support and is mobilizing its resources. Most important of course is the position of the AAUP, which said that it's extremely concerned about the situation. It has also warned USF about a possible censure" In Solidarity - Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] www.hunterbear.org From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 22 10:03:26 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:03:26 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Thu., Feb. 28: "Death's Dream Kingdom: American Culture after 911" Message-ID: Critical Perspectives on Wars, Classes, & Empires "Death's Dream Kingdom: the American Culture after 911" Speaker: Walter Davis About the Speaker: Walter Davis is a professor of English at the Ohio State University. His publications include _Deracination: Historicity, Hiroshima, and the Tragic Imperative_ (2001), _The Holocaust Memorial: A Play About Hiroshima_ (2001), _Inwardness and Existence: Subjectivity in/and Hegel, Heidegger, Marx, and Freud_ (1989), and _Get the Guests: Psychoanalysis, Modern American Drama, and the Audience_ (1994). Date: Thursday, February 28 Time: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Location: 115 Stillman, OSU, 1947 College Rd., Columbus, OH What if the most important questions about the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center as historical Events transcend the terms of the current debate and the underlying framework it serves? What if the true function of the dominant system of rules of inquires, be they ethical or historical, is to prevent us from even attempting other, deeper inquiries, by plunging us into "that dream-state in which you run without moving from a terror in which you cannot believe toward a safety in which you have no faith" (Absalom, Absalom!)? What if "911," like Hiroshima, is uniquely revelatory of all that we do not know - and do not want to know - about our culture? What if, instead of following the dominant system of rules, we approached history as a reality - and a discipline - in which we must risk ourselves utterly? What if we dared to internalize an experience that shatters the economy of ideas and beliefs on which "the American identity" depends? "To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognize it 'the way it really was' (Ranke). It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger" (Walter Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History"). Sponsors: the Student International Forum and Social Welfare Action Alliance. OSU Campus Map: . Calendar of Events: . For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at or 614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at or 614-292-7181. Download the flyer for the teach-in at . Download the flyer for other upcoming SIF/SWAA events at . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Fri Feb 22 10:55:39 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:55:39 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Tue., Mar. 5: _The Battle of Algiers_ Message-ID: Progressive Film Series: Critical Perspectives on Wars, Classes, & Empires _The Battle of Algiers_ Dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, 1965 Winner of the Golden Lion at the 27th Venice International Film Festival Date: Tue., March 5 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: 264 MacQuigg Lab, OSU, 105 W. Woodruff Ave., Columbus, OH "_The Battle of Algiers_...remains the basis of Pontecorvo's fame -- a model of how, without prejudice or compromise, a film-maker can illuminate history and tell us how we repeat the same mistakes. In fact, this study of the Algerian guerrilla struggle against the French colonialists in the 50s ought to be looked at not just as pure cinema but as a warning to those who seek by force to crush independence movements." -- Derek Malcolm, _The Guardian_ "What we have witnessed is a radical transformation of the means of perception, of the very world of perception." - Frantz Fanon, _A Dying Colonialism_ Sponsors: the Student International Forum and Social Welfare Action Alliance. OSU Campus Map: . Calendar of Events: . For more info, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at or 614-668-6554; or Keith Kilty at or 614-292-7181. Download the flyer for _The Battle of Algiers_ at . Download the flyer for other upcoming SIF/SWAA events at . -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Fri Feb 22 12:25:44 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 14:25:44 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Israeli's take pride in a dead palestinian Message-ID: <001301c1bbd6$b965b350$33378d18@Indy1> Israeli's take pride in a dead palestinian (english) by AP 9:27am Fri Feb 22 '02 Israeli soldiers show off their kill... (heartless bastards) Picture and caption here: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=139125&group=webcast From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 22 13:39:05 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 12:39:05 PST Subject: [R-G] Why do they need such a thing? Message-ID: <200202222039.g1MKd5B28029@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 22 14:08:29 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:08:29 PST Subject: [R-G] Brute force will not work - Haaretz Message-ID: <200202222108.g1ML8UB23400@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 22 14:09:35 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:09:35 PST Subject: [R-G] Office of Strategic Mendacity - NYT Message-ID: <200202222109.g1ML9ZB24293@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 22 14:10:42 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:10:42 PST Subject: [R-G] Israeli cabinet backs greater - Independentuse of death squads Message-ID: <200202222110.g1MLAgB25208@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Fri Feb 22 14:20:34 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 13:20:34 PST Subject: [R-G] The Threat of Global Terrorism - Herman and Peterson Message-ID: <200202222120.g1MLKYB03351@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Fri Feb 22 20:15:28 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 20:15:28 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Some Who's Who Among Anti-Native Forces -- Who Natives Are Organizing To Fight [ comment from me] Message-ID: <003101c1bc18$59d5b7e0$a4a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Note by Hunterbear: I've written [and posted] extensively on Native American sovereignty and related matters. While there are certainly many non-Indians, older and younger, who are sensibly empathetic to American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut concerns and relatively aware of at least the basics in the Native situation [and some are certainly very aware of all of this], I'm always surprised, frankly, to encounter those who, ostensibly well-rounded and sophisticated, are not cognizant -- and are sometimes hostile. [To those not-friendly especially, I do recommend Vine Deloria's "Custer Died for Your Sins " -- thirty years old or so but still a very timely classic with persuasive force and some humour.] Well, anyway. The article I'm posting deals with some open and veiled Real Enemies of our Indian people, our tribal nations, our cultures, our sovereignty, our land and our resources. Here are a few sociological and legal basics: A Native tribal nation is precisely that -- a nation. Within what is called the United States and Canada, a tribe is NOT analogous to a city or a state or a province. Again, it's a nation. It has, among other things, its super-ancient distinctive history in this Hemisphere and its own very viable and unique culture. And there are as many tribal cultures as there are tribal nations. A Native person's primary identification beyond his/her own family structures is with that of tribal nation and tribal culture -- and then to the overall Native American world. A Native tribal nation, like all nations, has inherent sovereignty. Full sovereignty is the full and ultimate control by the tribal nation of its land, its people, and its affairs. Much sovereignty has been lost -- however temporarily -- by the tribal nations in both the United States and Canada. But some functional sovereignty does remain. In the United States, the current situation is referred to as "residual" or "limited sovereignty" -- a tribal nation has control over some dimensions but not over others. A great big part of the Native fight is always to preserve and to regain sovereignty. Sovereignty, obviously, is power -- and protection and security -- and it's absolutely critical to individual and societal well-being. A related point: treaties between the Native American tribal nations and the United States are part of the "Supreme Law of the Land." They were made in the context of Article 6, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution. As such, Native treaties occupy a status considerably higher -- and in an entirely different dimensional context -- than that of a Congressional statute or Presidential executive order. In addition to fighting to preserve and regain sovereignty, Native nations and people fight to achieve bona fide self-determination. But self-determination must always be within the context of full maintenance of treaty rights and related agreements -- and full treaty rights and related agreements must be within the context of self-determination. In our Native American struggle, we can certainly always use honorable and ethical allies. With respect to the radical situation, it boils down, quoting from my little piece of more than two weeks ago, "Owls and Indians -- and some radicals who are neither," to basically this: "Sometimes then [after doing some open-minded reading], the previously unaware non-Indian radical can understand why family and clan and tribe and tribal culture and a serving-the-community ethos are so critical to us. And why we fight for all treaty rights and for full sovereignty and for bona fide self-determination. And why we are so committed to preservation of our communally owned earth and to the very careful and respectful usage of its resources. And why we always protect our sacred places." Here, now, are many of our enemies -- and attendant issue challenges: In Solidarity - Hunter [Hunterbear] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anti-Indian sovereignty movement and its politicians Posted: February 22, 2002 - 10:29AM EST http://indiancountry.com/?1014391922 Indian nations are forming a serious united front against the growing forces focused on destroying the bases of Indian sovereignty under United States law. At its 58th Annual Session the National Congress of American Indians, with its membership of more than 250 tribal governments from every region of Indian country, adopted a resolution condemning the actions of anti-Indian organizations and hate groups. Likewise, at its January 2002 Impact Week in Washington, D.C., the 24 Indian nation members of the United South and Eastern Tribes passed a resolution identifying and condemning groups intent on eliminating American Indian governments, societies and cultures. Both of these respected American Indian advocacy organizations appropriately called attention to anti-Indian groups including but not limited to Citizens for Equal Rights Alliance, United Property Owners, and Upstate Citizens for Equality. The backlash movement against the honorable foundation of tribal government sovereignty by regional, and increasingly, nationally networked anti-Indian organizations represents a serious political challenge that Indian nations must confront. It is of utmost importance that the nations and all Indian leadership everywhere understand that no matter how much local clout you might have, all Indian nations are, of necessity, in it together on such critical termination movements that would deny American Indian freedoms and liberties in their aboriginal lands. The current anti-Indian movement has several bases in the non-Indian population, and even enjoys allies among a very few Indians who have turned on their own governments, for whatever reasons. In New York State, at least one congressional primary race is now defined by the anti-Indian sovereignty platform and the activist opposition to Indian nations and jurisdictions of a declared candidate. The case is worth noting. The candidate is Rodger Potocki, a Republican businessman from New Hartford, who is an active member in an anti-Indian organization identified by NCAI and USET, namely the Upstate Citizens for Equality. Potocki stated the "repeal of Indian sovereignty" as a central campaign theme. He is running for the Republican nomination to Congress from an upstate New York District. And even though he is out of step with New York's Republican leader, Governor George Pataki, who has formally recognized Indian sovereignty, Potocki's candidacy represents the dark, old and tired legacy of U.S. and Indian relations. The bugaboo is one that goes back to the 1920s, with attacks on the structure of tribes as separatist, discriminatory, even racist. Potocki was quoted in the (Syracuse) Post Standard as saying: "We should not allow nations of different people and different colors and different religions. It's the Balkanization of America." In Potocki's case the anti-Indian anger is directed at the success of the Oneida and Cayuga Nations of New York, which have won their land claims and are now in a position to buy back their former territories and establish viable economic futures. As in the Oneida example, the aggressive reacquisition of Indian lands, putting them into trust with their tax status under Indian nation jurisdiction, has some would-be "patriots" fuming. Never mind that churches, non-profit institutions and other governmental jurisdictions remove far more land from county and town taxation than its local Indian nation, and give back much less than Oneida Nation enterprises that employ over 3,000 tax-paying local people. (The Oneida Nation is owner of this newspaper's parent corporation.) Potocki is hell-bent on the proposition that by destroying Indian nations' jurisdictions and legal standing, some great American problem will be solved. Potocki, UCE and the national network that is organizing and politically guiding the anti-Indian movement to state houses and the U.S. Congress must be watched carefully. If left unanswered, one of these days, as a movement, it could potentially emerge onto the American media scene via some manufactured event. If a cluster of five or eight anti-Indian tribal jurisdiction politicians form in any house of government, particularly Congress, it gains strength. It gains the potential to create serious problems. Tribal leaders should make no mistake about it. The stated aim of this national movement is to destroy the powers and authorities of Indian tribal government within U.S. law. Help identify it in your own backyard. Combat it in any appropriate way. In Central New York, Potocki proudly announced his run for Congress on Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Lincoln fought to preserve the union, he said. Indian nation sovereignties are supposedly against Lincoln's principle of a united country, Potocki argues. Indian nations need to be ready to repel these absurd arguments, fight back the faulty rationales used by anti-Indian forces that patriotism and Americanism are on their side, when in fact they are the ones denying well-established American historical, political and cultural legacies, and dishonoring the country's diplomatic government to government heritage. Potocki needs to be reminded, for instance, that Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida and other Iroquois ancestors fought in all of America's wars, striving to secure freedom, liberty and sovereignty for nations the world over. Indian nations deserve no less at home. The long-standing legal reality of Indian nations' existence outside and within the American federalist and state frameworks, the long-standing treaty and case law that define the history of United States and Indian relations are reduced to the "evil" of "Balkanization" in the anti-Indian arguments. As if tribal nations did not own their own reality on this American earth, one that extends many hundreds of years further, as if relations between tribal, municipal, state and federal jurisdictions were not possible and, in fact, part of the American legal fabric. Nationally, both the National Congress of American Indians and the United South and Eastern Tribes, have challenged Potocki's organization, UCE, as anti-Indian and as a hate group. UCE voices strongly deny the hate label and point to their inclusion of a few distressed and confused Indian individuals among their supporters. But whether expressed racially or legalistically or politically, the direct and completely hostile attack by groups such as UCE on the economic and political base of Indian tribes is truly impossible to ignore. Gone is the obvious snarl of yesteryear; and no one wants to be too quick with accusations of racism, but is perhaps now the noose simply hiding behind a smile of civility and the claim of "nothing personal?" Ever since David Duke replaced his white robes for the legitimate veneer of suit and tie, organizations taking aim at peoples of color have become increasingly sophisticated. They are now much more cleverly attuned to image and language. It may not be racist in the sense of a KKK mob burning your house and lynching your men, but the clear outright call for the eradication of all the rights your ancestors retained for you, of everything that gives you identity and legal recognition, everything that gives your children and future generations an opportunity at economic justice in America, this is clearly a hostile intention, directed specifically at the destruction of Indian governments and, therefore, at the very existence of our peoples. The conventional weakness on the tribal side is the Indian faces showing up across the aisle. For a number of reasons, some even with rationalization, individual Indians from a few tribes are angry enough, disgusted enough, self-hating enough to enlist in and actually help lead the charge to destroy the whole reality of tribal self-government. For such Indians, it is clearly a case of tossing out their seventh generation along with the dirty water. From where we sit, such behavior by tribal members, who seek to dismember Indian nations because of specific cases of perceived injustice, apply convoluted and destructive tactics to what requires well thought out and constructive strategies. Part and parcel of a national initiative by anti-Indian groups, this approach of enlisting Indians shows up occasionally throughout the nation. Roland Morris, for instance, is a resident of the Flathead Indian Reservation but a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. He was elected last June to the board of a national network called the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA). In August he became chairman of All Citizens Equal (ACE) a Montana-based group. Morris supports the idea of destroying Indian tribal jurisdiction. He is very popular with CERA. A Montana Human Rights Network watch on hate groups writes incisively on this subject: "Anti-Indian activists strongly deny that they or their groups are racist in any way. They portray themselves as citizens who are concerned about legal and political issues, which surround tribal sovereignty. Human rights advocates point out that the organized attempt to abrogate the legally established right of tribes to govern the affairs of their members and their resources is inherently racist. "ACE materials often include non-discrimination statements and disclaimers. ACE's bylaws proclaim that it does not tolerate racism in any form. Newsletters and other publications are full of the terminology of civil rights. On its web page ACE says it 'is dedicated to the civil rights and equal protection' under the Constitution. It goes on to proclaim, 'Persons of Native heritage should not be subject to law based on racial heritage.' Ads in the local paper announce that ACE is now a 'multiracial group.' "But despite all of these efforts, ACE remains widely regarded as a fundamentally anti-Indian organization. As an example, the Great Falls Tribune coverage of Morris' election as the chairman of ACE was given a headline which read, 'ACE hopes to overcome racist, anti-Indian image on Flathead.'" The same is true of the UCE (Upstate Citizens for Equality) in Central New York and of many other such organizations from the East Coast to Wisconsin and Minnesota, the Northern Great Plains, Oregon and Washington, and California, and other states. There is a denial of racism, but clearly there is a bigoted approach to Indian rights, tunnel-vision opinions that advocate for the complete abrogation of all treaty and other legal rights of American Indians, the original self-governing peoples of this land. A 1992 study by the World Center for Indigenous Studies found "recurrent and troubling connections" by the anti-Indian groups in the western states to white supremacist organizations. In Montana both ACE and its precursor, Montanans Opposed to Discrimination, based right on the Flathead Indian Reservation, have opposed tribal government at "virtually every turn." The anti-Indian movement is also very close to the Wise Use movement. This is a network of anti-environmental groups that focus on natural resource development and property rights issues. They directly oppose Indian tribes' control of natural resources, including water, timber and minerals. The legal concept of tribal sovereignty is just not acceptable to these groups, who essentially seek to terminate tribal America. Indians joining in with what are clearly enemy forces in order to combat their own Indian enemies are destructive, always, of all Indian futures. There is no justice down that road, only further division. Indian problems are many and often intractable, but for the sake of the generations they need to be worked on "on the inside." It is not easy, but it is possible. The specifically directed attacks on Indian futures call for the vigilance of the eagle. These attacks carry the worst of intentions and all tribal officials, all tribal members, including tribal high school students, should be aware of the fundamental arguments that defend against the anti-Indian attacks. NCAI and USET are doing well to identify groups in the anti-Indian networks. In both of these cases it took the diligent work of both Eastern and Western tribal delegations to bring the issue to national attention. We congratulate all those who are working to protect the rightful and just standing of Indian governments and peoples within America. ?2001 Indian Country Today Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) From itsalljustafacade at hotmail.com Sat Feb 23 00:13:52 2002 From: itsalljustafacade at hotmail.com (Grace) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 23:13:52 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Re:unsubscribe References: <003101c1bc18$59d5b7e0$a4a90e3f@ibm22761429477> Message-ID: this list is full of interesting information and view-points but it is just too prolific. i was wondering how to unsuscribe From mstainsby at tao.ca Fri Feb 22 22:51:16 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 21:51:16 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Re: Savimbi Dead;War in Colombia References: Message-ID: <001101c1bc2e$1cd4a520$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "marco ." > It would also be nice if the ruling party wasn't a > client to transnational capitalism, but that is a different issue > altogether. > Ni it isn't. Clients of imperialism inevitably make real peace utterly impossible to be garnered. The "stability" of Angola would be at the cost of destabilising the basic indicators of the population. One needs-- at a time when there is uncertainty in the air-- to speak of the need for independence from IMF colonialism. Two stages doesn't work. Are there any listmembers who can give a brief historical outline of the trajectory of the MPLA up to and including today? > Colombia. Given, the FARC are no angels themselves, but it has been > documented that the state army and right-wing paramilitary death squads > aligned with the state (although they continuously claim otherwise) are > responsible for the vasy majority of civilian deaths during the civil war. Exactly what are you conceding here? I am unclear what "no angels" refers to. > So on this day we hope, and we act, for a real peace in Angola and > Colombia and across the world, for the end of the exploitation of > corporate globalization, the suffering of war, and the insanity of our > apathy which allows these things to happen. Most definitely agreed. I have noticed a political sensory overload among our comrades here in the belly of the beast. Hopefully it is a sign of confusion and hesitance ranther than surrender. The amount of events and the speed of political developments have been unprecedented lately. It feels like a calm before a storm. This could be their greatest crisis coming right around the corner. We should be prepared to find events taking us without warning. After that happens, the ballgame changes and anything could happen. We must be ready! Real peace- socialism or barbarism. Macdonald Macdonald From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Fri Feb 22 23:14:37 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 01:14:37 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Sept. 11 families say 'War, not in our names' Message-ID: <002e01c1bc31$5eedd9b0$33378d18@Indy1> Many apologies if you recieve this more than once! PLEASE FORWARD ______________________________________________________________________ http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=139493&group=webcast Sept. 11 families say 'War, not in our names' (english) Friday 22 Feb 2002 author: Judith LeBlanc (pww at pww.org) summary NEW YORK - "We do not want the war in Afghanistan or other parts of the world, wherever it might spread, to be conducted in our names or in the names of our lost loved ones," David Potorti told the press. The Feb. 14 press conference was called to announce the founding of a new peace and justice organization, "Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows." Potorti, who lost his brother in the World Trade Center (WTC), spoke on behalf of 17 family members of those killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in the Flight 93 crash in Pennsylvania. web link http://www.pww.org NEW YORK - "We do not want the war in Afghanistan or other parts of the world, wherever it might spread, to be conducted in our names or in the names of our lost loved ones," David Potorti told the press. The Feb. 14 press conference was called to announce the founding of a new peace and justice organization, "Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows." Potorti, who lost his brother in the World Trade Center (WTC), spoke on behalf of 17 family members of those killed at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in the Flight 93 crash in Pennsylvania. Colleen Kelly from the Bronx, who lost her brother in the WTC, told the World, "I do feel for better or worse that right now families of Sept. 11 are in a unique position to speak out and have their voices heard. I would trade that in a heartbeat to have my brother back but I can't ... so I feel this is the way to go." The initiating members of Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows found each other when they began to speak out against the Bush administration's bombing of Afghanistan. "We believe in seeking justice, not revenge, for those crimes against humanity. We do not condone nor accept the killing of other innocent civilians in other parts of the world," Potorti continued. "I do believe there are people out there who do not support Bush's policies. Even a cursory look at the letters to The New York Times reveal that there are people who oppose Bush's policies but haven't been provided with an alternative," Robin Theurkauf told the World. Theurkauf is an instructor at Yale who lost her husband in the attacks. Potorti, who has done national TV interviews, said, "A lot of people feel the way we do but they are kind of afraid. The media and their support of this war serves to frighten people just enough so that they are afraid to speak out. If we can let them know that in a small way they can come out ... and that there are people like them who feel the same way - we've succeeded!" Some of the families have begun to reach out to families in Afghanistan. Four Sept. 11 family members went to Afghanistan recently. Kelly Campbell from California said, "One of our concerns is what is happening to innocent families in Afghanistan who are being injured by our government's actions. We saw people who are suffering the loss of their loved ones, their homes, caretakers or their children. They cannot rebuild their homes or feed their families. We met children so traumatized by what they saw in their neighborhoods when the bombs fell that they are not able to speak." Rita Lazar, who lost her brother, sat in the home of Amin Said, who also lost his brother, as he told her, "He was your brother, but he was also my brother. We are all brothers and sisters." One of the first projects the group is working on is a fund for the families of Afghan victims similar to the funds established for families of Sept.11 victims. As a first step in this campaign, they are asking President Bush to set up a U.S. government study on civilian casualties. Peaceful Tomorrows has set the goal of promoting dialogue on peaceful alternatives to counter terrorism. Theurkauf said, "Much of the international community is quite alarmed by the rhetoric coming out of the Bush administration. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is one instrument that could be used internationally. The U.S. has not indicated any willingness at all in ratifying or participating." She advocated exerting political pressure on the government to support the efforts in the United Nations to establish the ICC. Peaceful Tomorrows' families have been touched by the international response to their loss. Phyllis Rodriguez and her husband wrote letters to Bush and The New York Times expressing their indignation over a war being waged on behalf of their 38-year-old son who was lost in the World Trade Center. "Another result of the miracle of the internet is that my family has received hundreds of letters from around the world ... people in Japan were reminded of Hiroshima. They were so happy to hear that there were Americans who don't follow the governments policies," Rodriguez said. The starting point for the activism is personal for Colleen Kelly. "I have a brother-in-law who is a Marine being sent to Guantanamo Bay next week," she said. "The spectrum of my family is the spectrum of the American public. We run the gamut of viewpoints. One of the great things about my mother is that there is room enough for everyone in her family, and for everyone's viewpoint. If President Bush was more like my mom the world would be a better place." The author can be reached at jleblanc at pww.org From citizen at comcast.net Thu Feb 21 10:54:42 2002 From: citizen at comcast.net (Bob Anderson) Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 10:54:42 -0700 Subject: [R-G] ON mike moores"stupid white guy" In-Reply-To: <20020219202433.AB0151703E@ns.istop.com> Message-ID: Michael Moore has a new book out called: Stupid White Men. So, based on the title of this book are we to assume that if we change the color people in power to be like that of Colin Powell, Clarence Thomas or Condi Rice, our government will run with a better set of values and goals? Once again, Moore has shown his clever ability to enhance his own well being as an entertainer of liberals with jest and humor. He was not so funny in 1998 when the Green Party was running hard across the country in several Congressional races and Moore sent out an emergency message for voters to stay with the Democratic Party, to not vote Green. The next election Moore jumped on the obvious rising trend of change, the Nader-Green Party wagon but now he is out on his own and is setting working people against each other with racial characterization of power. Thanks Mike for taking us back to the victim hood poverty programs days of LBJ when what we need now is a revolutionary theory to fight global capitalism. Neither Ho Chi Minh nor Martin Luther King, Jr. would not utter the lines Michael Moore puts forth as enlightenment. Why so many give him credibility is amazing. If Moore's new book was so good helpful he should release it free on line like many serious activists do to help build a revolutionary mass movement. Michael Moore may be reached at StupidWhiteMen at aol.com Sincerely, Bob Anderson Albuquerque, New Mexico From cuito61 at hotmail.com Fri Feb 22 17:03:35 2002 From: cuito61 at hotmail.com (marco .) Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 19:03:35 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Savimbi Dead;War in Colombia Message-ID: Jonas Savimbi, head of UNITA, National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, counterrevolutionary extraordinaire, ally of such humanist illuminaries as Reagan, Bush, the CIA, the DeBeers Corporation, Israel, and apartheid South Africa, murderer of thousands of innocent Angolan civilians, subverter of the Angolan state and its independence, has reportedly been killed earlier today in skirmishes with the Angolan Armed Forces. I sincerely hope that this is a sign that peace will come to the Angolan people after they have suffered so much, not only since 1975, when the civil war began, but for more than five centuries of exploitation, colonization, slavery, and indignity. What is needed now is real leadership from MPLA, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, and a real commitment on their part to peace. It would also be nice if the ruling party wasn't a client to transnational capitalism, but that is a different issue altogether. We also recognize another people who have been involved in a long and bloody civil war: the people of Colombia, and the decision of the Colombian government, fully backed by arms and billions of dollars in aid from the U.S., to attack areas held by the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Given, the FARC are no angels themselves, but it has been documented that the state army and right-wing paramilitary death squads aligned with the state (although they continuously claim otherwise) are responsible for the vasy majority of civilian deaths during the civil war. This new incursion into rebel territory will undoubtedly result in the death and displacement of many more innocent people. As Angola at least symbolically moves out of an era of perpetual despair, suffering, violence, and death, Colombia re-enters into such an era. In both situations we see the tentacles of U.S. interference and imperialism in propping up and arming the most reactionary, murderous forces as long as they comply with U.S. demands and policy. So on this day we hope, and we act, for a real peace in Angola and Colombia and across the world, for the end of the exploitation of corporate globalization, the suffering of war, and the insanity of our apathy which allows these things to happen. Relevant reports below: TERRORIST SAVIMBI KILLED The Angolan army says it has killed Jonas Savimbi. A statement, read on state media, said Savimbi died during an army attack his forces in southeast Angola. There was no independent confirmation of the claim and the statement did not say where or when Savimbi was killed. Jonas Savimbi was the leader of a group of terrorists and mercenaries known as UNITA. Earlier this week the army announced it had captured the deputy commander of UNITA and three other top officers during a military operation to encircle the group's leadership. Angola's MPLA government has been locked in a civil war with Unita for 26 years. The conflict has killed about a million people and has created more than four million refugees in and outside Angola. The UNITA war effort is funded by illicit diamonds. Sources: Ananova, Republic of Angola Website, AP, The Post (Lusaka) --- For?as Armadas Angolanas abateram Jonas Savimbi O presidente da UNITA, Jonas Savimbi est? morto. O an?ncio chegou hoje atrav?s de um comunicado divulgado pelas For?as Armadas Angolanas que afirmam terem abatido Savimbi. Esta informa??o divulgada atrav?s da R?dio Nacional de Angola foi tamb?m confirmada pelo Governo de Luanda. As For?as Armadas Angolanas ter?o efectuado um ataque ? coluna militar da UNITA na prov?ncia de Moxico, no leste de Angola pelas 15 horas locais. Segundo Almiro da Concei??o, o porta-voz da presid?ncia da Rep?blica angolana, o corpo do l?der da Uni?o Nacional da Rep?blica Angolana encontra-se na posse das for?as armadas governamentais. O porta-voz disse ainda que vai informar oficialmente a troika de observadores - Portugal, Estados Unidos e R?ssia -, de quem espera uma "reac??o razo?vel, de compreens?o". Entretanto, um comunicado avan?ado pelo Governo da Rep?blica de Angola apela a "todos aqueles que volunt?ria ou involuntariamente se tenham associado a essas pr?ticas terroristas, para que reconsiderem a sua op??o e se reintegrem a partir de agora na vida normal do pa?s, contribuindo assim para o processo de democratiza??o e reconcilia??o nacional". Segundo a ag?ncia noticiosa Angola Press, o Governo em tempo oportuno, "e consoante os sinais que receber da parte daqueles que ainda se encontrem de armas na m?o, ir? emitir um comunicado contendo um programa detalhado para a cessa??o definitiva de todas as hostilidades em Angola". No comunicado, o Governo reitera o seu prop?sito de implementar na totalidade o Protocolo de Lusaka e considera tamb?m que todos os partidos pol?ticos angolanos s?o necess?rios para a democratiza??o de Angola. O executivo angolano exorta toda a popula??o para que se mantenha calma e serena, respeitando a lei e a ordem, particularmente o direito ? diferen?a e ? conviv?ncia pac?fica entre todos os angolanos. Source: O Diario de Noticias, Portugal --- UNITA n?o se pronuncia Governo angolano anuncia morte de Jonas Savimbi O Governo angolano anunciou hoje, em comunicado lido na R?dio Nacional de Angola, a morte de Jonas Savimbi, o l?der da UNITA. A informa??o carece ainda de confirma??o de fonte independente. Jonas Malheiro Savimbi ter? sido abatido na prov?ncia do Moxico (Leste de Angola), durante uma opera??o das For?as Armadas Angolanas, que resultou ainda na morte de outros elementos da UNITA. De acordo com o texto, a opera??o ter? sido desencadeada ?s 14h00, hora de Lisboa, contra uma coluna do movimento em que alegadamente seguiria Savimbi. No comunicado, o Governo angolano admite decretar um cessar-fogo definitivo, fazendo depender esta hip?tese das reac??es da UNITA ? morte do seu l?der. O comunicado governamental seguiu-se a uma nota do Estado-Maior das FAA, que noticiava igualmente a morte do l?der do movimento do Galo Negro. "N?o nos vamos pronunciar sobre isso. Vamos aguardar", afirmou ao P?BLICO uma fonte da UNITA, que pediu para n?o ser identificada, sublinhando que esta ? a posi??o oficial do movimento. "O Governo angolano anunciou muitas vezes a morte e a pris?o do doutor Jonas Savimbi. Ainda ontem entr?mos em contacto com a direc??o e estava tudo bem", afirmou a mesma fonte. "O MPLA ? h?bil 'em matar' e 'enterrar' o presidente Jonas Savimbi", acrescentou. No in?cio do m?s de Janeiro, um comunicado das FAA anunciava a morte de Alcides Sakala, respons?vel pelas Rela??es Exteriores da UNITA, e a deten??o de Paulo Lukamba Gato, secret?rio-geral do movimento, numa ac??o contra uma coluna militar, igualmente na prov?ncia do Moxico. Esta informa??o seria categoricamente negada pela direc??o da UNITA. O porta-voz da Presid?ncia angolana, Aldemiro da Concei??o, acrescentou, em declara??es ? TSF, que o corpo est? na posse das FAA e vai ser mostrado nas pr?ximas horas. Para j?, o Presidente da Rep?blica e o Governo portugu?s escusaram-se a comentar a not?cia. O embaixador portugu?s em Luanda afirmou n?o ter sido contactado pessoalmente por qualquer respons?vel angolano, referindo ter apenas conhecimento da not?cia atrav?s dos comunicados oficiais. Fernando Neves afirma que em Luanda foram ouvidos v?rios tiros de regozijo, mas que o ambiente permanece calmo. Source: publico.pt --- Savimbi 'killed' by Angolan army The Angolan authorities say the veteran rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is dead. A government statement said Mr Savimbi had been killed in fighting between Angolan army forces and his Unita rebels on Friday. There has been no independent confirmation of the reported death of Mr Savimbi who has led Unita for more than 30 years. The rebel movement has been engaged in civil war in Angola almost continuously since 1975 and for a while in 1992 controlled more than half the country. 'Closing in' The Angolan Government said Mr Savimbi had been killed in the rural eastern province of Moxico - about 700 kilometres (480 miles) south-east of the capital, Luanda. A spokesman for President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said the army was holding Mr Savimbi's body in Moxico. "We are going to broadcast television footage of the body," the spokesman was quoted as saying. A Unita representative in Portugal dismissed the reports of Mr Savimbi's death, saying they were simply propapanda. However the BBC's Justin Pearce in Luanda says that while in the past the Angolan army has exaggerated its reports of military victories, it would be unlikely to issue a false report on a matter of such importance. Since late last year, the Angolan army has been waging a renewed military campaign against Unita in Moxico province, which was seen as the last rebel stronghold. The army had said it was closing in on Mr Savimbi, and several senior rebel officers were captured in the area. Jonas Savimbi was born in 1934 and founded Unita - the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola - in the late 1960s as a rival movement to the MPLA which later became the government. No peace in sight Unita has been fighting against the Luanda government since 1975 when civil war erupted after Angola's independence from Portugal. Elections were held during a ceasefire in 1992, but Unita did not accept the results and fighting resumed. Another attempt to find peace in 1994 finally broke down in 1998 and the country returned to war. The conflict in Angola is estimated to have killed more than 500,000 people, and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. News of Mr Savimbi's death has been greeted with jubilation in Luanda. People drove round the city sounding their car horns and firing off flares into the air. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1836000/1836737.stm --- Links to News Coverage: http://www.cnnemportugues.com/ http://colombia.indymedia.org/ http://www.indymedia.org/ http://dn.sapo.pt/homepage/homepage.asp http://brasil.indymedia.org/ http://southafrica.indymedia.org/ http://pt.indymedia.org/ Colombia Mobilization, Washington, D.C., April 19-22: http://www.soaw.org/colombiaMobilization.html http://www.colombiamobilization.org/ Information on Angola: http://www.synapse.net/~acdi20/country/angola.htm http://www.angola.org/index.htm http://www.rhodesia.myweb.nl/marquez.htm http://www.granma.cu/che/africa.html http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/debates/african/newsid_533000/533313.stm Information on Colombia: http://www.colombiareport.org/index.htm http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/2000/colombia07072000.html http://www.commoncouragepress.com/colombia/ http://www.derechos.net/paulwolf/colombia/drugwar.htm http://www.farc-ep.org/ /// We declare our right on this earth ... to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. -Malcolm X /// _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com From pieinsky at igc.org Sun Feb 24 05:04:48 2002 From: pieinsky at igc.org (Jay Moore) Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 07:04:48 -0500 Subject: [R-G] The Merchants of Death working Three Shifts a Day Message-ID: <00b201c1bd2b$78e4f9c0$447df2d0@bypass.com> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58051-2002Feb23.html From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Mon Feb 25 01:06:44 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 03:06:44 -0500 Subject: [R-G] The truth about those strange chemical trails in the sky Message-ID: <005e01c1bdd3$5d7b10e0$33378d18@Indy1> The truth about those strange chemical trails in the sky by William Thomas (fwd by Hamilton Resident) 12:34am Mon Feb 25 '02 (Modified on 12:37am Mon Feb 25 '02) address: PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia phone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280 willthomas at telus.net article#7176 Today was a good day to watch the planes carpet the sky with chemicals in Hamilton, Ontario. No joke!! It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky, except for some strange, long trails being left behind by high-flying planes. The trails gradually diffused into cirrus coulds. Did anyone in Hamilton look at the moon tonight?? Did you see that large ring around it reflecting the light away from the ground?? Wonder what it was?? If this sounds crazy, keep reading and you will see exactly why planes have been lacing the world's skies with chemicals and why the U.S. won't sign on to the Kyoto agreement. They have other plans....CRAZY ONES that they think will allow them to keep burning oil!! ____________________________________________________________________________ ______________________ Under the banner of some top-secret scientific agenda, the US military continues to weave chemical-laden contrails in the skies, causing health problems for unprotected people on the ground. About the Author: William Thomas specialises in health and environment issues. His award-winning writing has appeared in more than 50 publications in eight countries. His editorial commentaries have been published in The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun and Times-Colonist newspapers as well as Earth Island Journal and Ecodecision magazines. He has also appeared on CBC radio and TV, CNN and New Zealand national television. His articles, "Poison from the Sky: the 'Chemtrails' Crisis" and "Probing the 'Chemtrails' Conundrum", were published in NEXUS 6/03 and 7/02 respectively. He can be contacted by email at willthomas at telus.net, or via his Lifeboat News website, http://www.lifeboatnews.com. FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://ontario.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=7176&group=webcast and here: http://hamilton.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=1132&group=webcast From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 25 17:22:51 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:22:51 PST Subject: [R-G] The Argentine Rebellion - Roger Burbach Message-ID: <200202260022.g1Q0MpE24284@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 25 17:23:34 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:23:34 PST Subject: [R-G] Petition against nomination of Bush and Blair for peace prize Message-ID: <200202260023.g1Q0NYE25177@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 25 17:25:25 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:25:25 PST Subject: [R-G] Rallies across B.C. attack government - Vancouver Sun Message-ID: <200202260025.g1Q0PPE27534@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 25 17:27:11 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:27:11 PST Subject: [R-G] Personal Testimony of an Israeli Refusenik - Z Magazine Message-ID: <200202260027.g1Q0RBE29627@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 25 17:26:19 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:26:19 PST Subject: [R-G] Enron and the Myths of Runaway Capitalism - AlterNet Message-ID: <200202260026.g1Q0QJE28654@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Mon Feb 25 17:24:22 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 16:24:22 PST Subject: [R-G] Europe goes off the U.S. leash - G&M Message-ID: <200202260024.g1Q0OME26224@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From everton at uwindsor.ca Mon Feb 25 19:09:27 2002 From: everton at uwindsor.ca (Bob Everton) Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 21:09:27 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Colombia and FARC Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20020225202405.00a5eec0@zeus.uwindsor.ca> Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002 21:51:16 -0800 From: Macdonald Stainsby To: marxism at lists.panix.com, Rad Green Subject: [R-G] Re: Savimbi Dead; War in Colombia ----- Original Message ----- From: "marco ." > Colombia. Given, the FARC are no angels themselves, but it has been > documented that the state army and right-wing paramilitary death squads > aligned with the state (although they continuously claim otherwise) are > responsible for the vasy majority of civilian deaths during the civil war. "Exactly what are you conceding here? I am unclear what "no angels" refers to." I don't know what the author of the original statement specifically meant (I didn't read the initial post), but I would like to respond with what I know that is relevant to this issue. I have known of the FARC for many decades. But I would like to contribute what I have learned from comrades who are from the Pacific coast of Colombia. I have presented this no-where else. I do not typically address non-left groups with criticism of any left organization. However, this is a list of comrades (apart from its infiltration) and a genuine question was raised for inquiry by Mac. So here I will present it. We do want to deal with the truth after all, no? The FARC when they have taken over local communities of Afro-Colombians have replaced (or attempted to replace) the local autonomous leadership (such as the Process of Black Communities - a member of the PGA) with their own rule. They have obliged local Afro-Colombian communities to grow coca leaves for the production of cocaine. Although the local leadership objected and stood up to the insurgent force, they were ultimately told that the FARC was in command and the people would grow what the FARC told them to grow. Within months seeds were provided and coca plants were being grown (3/4 of each field). Within a year the paramilitary appeared in the region and the FARC immediately abandoned the area - without a fight. The local people were left defenseless against the paramilitary who have murdered any opposition in the community - with impunity. (Pretty sad, no? I have talked with eye-witnesses of this.) The peasants today grow coca plants for the production of cocaine. But today they are obliged to do so by the paramilitary - who quite accurately can now claim that they did not even oblige the peasants to cultivate that crop. It is easy to romanticize one of the few bastions of military force that can resist the on-slaught of imperial aggression, as can the FARC. But if you ask for the truth, you will receive it. To not present it, when the question was raised among comrades is to contribute to misinformation. Do you want to hear of the stories of the offer of women troops members as obliged to provide sexual favours for those the FARC leadership consider important in recruiting? Or the stories of children who died during the confrontations, or later from the explosives still in the communities? The FARC cover 10% from the profits of operations of whoever will pay them in them zones of influence; some of these are pretty questionable operations. If you want these stories in all their details I could provide them. I'd rather simply we accept that the original comment that the "FARC are no angels" be understood as accurate. It is, after all, a war - a prolonged war. Why is this the case? Because 50 years of war (or 38 as FARC) leads people to assume behavior that meets the needs of military ends, which are unfortunately far too often divorced from the needs of the people when there is not a political leadership - responsible to the grassroots - that oversees that military command. Military logic comes to dominate over political concerns if there is no structure to ensure that political considerations dominate. Yes, I would agree that indeed it feels like the calm before a storm. The FARC do not undertake military challenges if they do not believe they can win them. But while we should not underestimate the military potential of the FARC (with popular support in many urban centres and likely with the military hard-ware to turn these into armed combatants), neither should we underestimate the consequences of the lack of political leadership that have driven the FARC into the camp of unwanted combatants for many of the impoverished rural peoples of Colombia. These very people should, if the FARC were the revolutionary force many seem to believe they are, be its first bastion of recruits and support. But instead many of them feel oppressed by the FARC. Not to the same degree as the paramilitary obviously, but none the less they would certainly agree that the FARC are "no angels". In solidarity and struggle, - Bob From aaron at istop.com Tue Feb 26 01:42:51 2002 From: aaron at istop.com (aaron at istop.com) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 03:42:51 -0500 (EST) Subject: [R-G] white house complisity gaining strength in mainstream media!! Message-ID: <20020226084251.D808517013@ns.istop.com> this just came in from my pagan friends!! IT is good to see that a few in mainstream media are starting to believe us!! If everyone bombards are mainstream medias with this. you never know.....more stories could be printed!!If I was a betting man, I would set up a pool to see how long dubya lasts Saturday's Vancouver Sun (Mix) article blows the Whitehouse involvement in 9-11 wide open. The link is now gone, but here's the text. Forward this to activist groups and the media (especially mainstream). Dropping a line to the author would be a great idea too. I urge all American's to apply major pressure on your politicians to hold your illegal president accountable. Allegations are that he bombed his own people. This is serious ! ---------------------------------- Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun Saturday, February 23, 2002 "The right wing benefited so much from September 11 that, if I were still a conspiratorialist, I would believe they'd done it." Norman Mailer When the paladin of Camelot joined the fray, I knew 9/11 had become the Kennedy Assassination of the 21st century -- a real-life X-Files episode occurring before my eyes. Like those X-Files accounts of aliens living in oil deposits, this was a story with such staggering implications the mainstream media are loath to go near it. The question isn't who killed the president -- it's who piloted the airplanes that slammed into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvanian countryside. Just as there remains lingering doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald fired a burst of fatally accurate shots from the Texas Book Depository, so there is skepticism that cells of Islamic terrorists secretly coordinated and simultaneously commandeered four commercial jetliners. The culprit responsible for the Sept. 11 attack is now rumoured to be the same one who lurked behind the grassy knoll: the oil-dependent U.S. military-industrial complex. Not everyone is ready to accept this -- a substitute teacher in North Vancouver's Sherwood Park elementary school has been called on the mat for suggesting to Grade 5 students the Central Intelligence Agency might have been involved in 9/11. And at last count, there were a dozen U.S. Congressional Committees investigating the tragedies and how such an intelligence and security breakdown was allowed to occur. But President George W. Bush and his right-hand man, Vice President Dick Cheney, have taken the unprecedented step of trying to restrict those investigations, pouring fuel on the simmering conspiracy theories being propagated in alternative publications, on wingnut Web sites and among some serious media outlets. In Germany, a former minister of technology, Andreas von Buelow, made headlines when in an interview he dismissed the U.S. government's explanation that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network is responsible for the attacks. His own explanation implicated the White House. "I wonder why many questions are not asked," von Buelow said. "For 60 decisive minutes, the military and intelligence agencies let the fighter planes stay on the ground; 48 hours later, however, the FBI presented a list of suicide attackers. Within 10 days, it emerged that seven of them were still alive." In Britain, a flight engineer has published a detailed paper asserting the U.S. took the joysticks out of the pilots' hands using a method of remote control developed by the American military in the 1970s. In the U.S. and Canada, independent publisher and editor Mike Ruppert (a former LAPD cop who hates the CIA) has drawn huge crowds to his two-hour lecture in which he states baldly that the U.S. government was complicit in the attacks and had foreknowledge. He opens his documentary presentation with an offer of $1,000 US to anyone who can prove any of his sources were misrepresented or inauthentic. A former U.S. government agent also has given interviews claiming the CIA has been dealing with Osama bin Laden since 1987. According to those who do not believe in The Lone Gunman, the truth is as plain as the nose on your face: Sept. 11's terrorist acts were planned and paid for by the CIA to enable the Bush Administration to "legitimately" bomb Afghanistan into submission on behalf of the oil industry. After all, everyone knows the Bush family has strong and long acknowledged ties to the oil industry, as do other senior members of the administration. Cheney until recently was president of a company servicing the oil patch. National Security adviser Condoleeza Rice was a manager for Chevron. Commerce and Energy Secretaries Donald Evans and Stanley Abraham worked for Tom Brown, another oil giant. Follow the money, as they say, and you'll find the smoking gun. Under this scenario, conspiracy theorists say a pliant Afghan regime was essential because of plans to pipe central Asian oil across Afghanistan. And there is a harvest of coincidence and contradiction to feed such imaginings. Consider first that the intelligence breakdown that led to 9/11 appears to have been a consequence of the Bush Administration telling the Federal Bureau of Investigation to back off on its investigation of Middle Eastern terrorism. A senior FBI investigator resigned from the agency, noisily claiming its main obstacle in the investigation was Big Oil's political influence. In an ironic twist of fate, the agent died in the World Trade Center. (Fox Mulder, was that you? Is that why they cancelled the series?) There also are recurring reports the CIA station chief in Dubai met with bin Laden only seven weeks before 9/11 while he was laid up for surgery. (The CIA denies this, but of course you can't believe anything it says.) Now think about this for a second: The Independent in London questions how Bush could claim in two public appearances to have seen the first plane hit the first tower long before any such TV footage was broadcast. The paper also asks why Dubya continued sitting with elementary school students after the second tower was hit and he'd been told, "America is under attack." Very mysterious, when standard procedure for such a situation is to whisk the president away to safety. Unless -- and here is the nub -- unless he knew something more than we did that morning. As the Independent asked, "What television station was HE watching?" This is rich stuff for those who see Them under the bed, especially since the financial miasma melds nicely with the already swirling rumour and insinuation. In the days before the attacks, there was unusually heavy trading in airline and related stocks using a market tactic called a "put option" that essentially bets that a stock will decline in value. If you were Osama, buying puts would be a great way to boost the value of your investment portfolio. And sure enough, unusually high numbers of put options were purchased in early September for the stocks of AMR Corp. and UAL Corp., the parents of American and United -- each of which had two planes hijacked. The U.S. government is now investigating suspicious trading in 38 companies directly affected by the events of Sept. 11. The initial survey of beneficiaries, however, turns out not to include one tall, dark-haired, olive-skinned, Allah-loving, Saudi-born sheik. Mainly the profiteers were blue-chip, establishment, red-white-and-blue Americans, some of whom were tenants in the collapsed twin towers, such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Lehman Brothers and the Bank of America, major airlines, cruise companies, General Motors Corp., Raytheon and others. Several insurance companies are also on the 38-name list U.S. and Canadian financial firms were asked to review and compare with their records for any unusual patterns. (Which may say more about who plays the market than anything else, but why quibble with the quixotic?) Cynics are also questioning the incredible speed with which evidence in the WTC collapse is being destroyed. Never in the history of fire investigations, they say, has evidence been destroyed before exhaustive investigations are complete. (Say what? Two skyscrapers' worth of debris should be warehoused?) And then there were the curious developments swirling around the anthrax public health hysteria triggered shortly after 9/11. Even dullards can appreciate that anthrax sent to a top Democrat and to the U.S. media helped unify the nation behind the war effort while literally shutting down Congress -- a remarkably useful outcome for Dubya and his gang. Indeed, specialists in biological warfare say the anthrax appears to be a U.S. military strain and the culprit a disgruntled American scientist who possesses a rare combination of laboratory skills that make him (they believe it's a man) relatively easy to identify. Hmmm. And who didn't smell a bad odour two weeks ago when Tennessee driver's licence examiner Katherine Smith died in Memphis under "most unusual and suspicious" circumstances. One day before her arraignment on charges she conspired to provide phoney licences to five Arabs tied by the FBI to the 9/11 attacks, her car crashed into a utility pole. The car was only slightly damaged, the gas tank was full and intact, but the vehicle was immediately engulfed in flames. As one report pointed out, Smith and the car interior apparently were doused with gasoline, which would certainly qualify in my book as at least "suspicious." And Memphis ... Memphis? Wasn't that the same place a noted Harvard bio-warfare expert "fell" off a bridge in December? Scully! The truth is out there. I know it. You too can help find it. If you would like an activist kit to get involved in urging a full public investigation of 9/11 and its aftermath, reply to findtruth 40 at hotmail.com with "Send kit." But be warned. The Pentagon has just established a new Office of Strategic Influence that calls for the planting of false stories in the foreign press, phoney e-mails from disguised addresses and other covert activities to manipulate public opinion. This could be one of them. Ian Mulgrew claims to be a Vancouver Sun reporter. ? Copyright 2002 Vancouver Sun From furuhashi.1 at osu.edu Tue Feb 26 13:01:07 2002 From: furuhashi.1 at osu.edu (Yoshie Furuhashi) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:01:07 -0500 Subject: [R-G] Mon., Mar. 4: Edmund Hanauer, SEARCH for Justice & Equality in Palestine/Israel Message-ID: Monday, March 4 Edmund Hanauer's Lecture on "US Policy towards Palestine/Israel: How Americans Can Work for Peace in Palestine/Israel" Speaker: Edmund Hanauer, SEARCH for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel Time: 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Location: the African/African-American Hall of Fame in the Frank W. Hale Jr., Black Cultural Center, 153 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH About the Speaker: Edmund Hanauer is the director of SEARCH for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel (SEARCH) and edits SEARCH's Palestine/Israel File. In addition to numerous lectures at leading universities and talks to civic, educational, and human rights groups, Hanauer has spoken twice to the Nieman Fellows in Journalism at Harvard and the State Department's Open Forum of the Secretary of State. Hanauer's articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict have appeared in more than 30 major newspapers, and he has been interviewed numerous times on TV and radio, including C-SPAN and National Public Radio. Sample Articles by Edmund Hanauer: "Double Standard Must End," _Milwaukee Journal Sentinel_ 25 February 2002; "Mideast Policy Counterproductive," _Seattle Post-Intelligencer_ 7 February 2002, ; "Palestinians' Rights Ignored," _USA Today_ 26 July 2000, ; "Camp David and the Al-Aqsa Intifada," ; & "U.S. Policy Must Force Barak's Hype into Real Action," _Houston Chronicle_ 20 July 1999, . About SEARCH: SEARCH is a national non-profit human rights and educational organization, founded in 1972, which seeks a just Israeli-Palestinian peace based on the inalienable rights of both peoples. SEARCH's focus is on improving media coverage on Palestine/Israel. SEARCH believes that justice for Palestinians and security for Israeli Jews are not mutually exclusive, but interdependent. The attainment of Palestinian rights is therefore a desirable goal in itself, as well as a means of securing Israel's future. That future cannot be assured while Palestinian rights are denied. SEARCH seeks a US policy committed to the rights of both peoples. Unfortunately, US policy, which includes aid to Israel of over three billion dollars a year, enables Israel to disregard international law, human rights, and democratic values (Human Rights Petition 1999, ). No peace is possible without a change in US policy. A prerequisite for such change is a US public both better informed and insistent on a just resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Sponsor: the Student International Forum Contact: Yoshie Furuhashi, 668-6554 or ; or Mark D. Stansbery, 252-9255. -- Yoshie * Calendar of Events in Columbus: * Anti-War Activist Resources: * Student International Forum: * Committee for Justice in Palestine: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 26 16:50:25 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:50:25 PST Subject: [R-G] America 'chasing phantoms' in Iraq says arms expert - The Independent Message-ID: <200202262350.g1QNoPE13412@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 26 16:51:21 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:51:21 PST Subject: [R-G] The real threat unmasked - G&M Message-ID: <200202262351.g1QNpLE14437@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 26 16:52:21 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:52:21 PST Subject: [R-G] Greasing conquest's wheels - G&M Message-ID: <200202262352.g1QNqME15553@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 26 16:53:10 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:53:10 PST Subject: [R-G] Sad to see America's ego intact - Baltimore Sun Message-ID: <200202262353.g1QNrBE16347@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Tue Feb 26 16:54:44 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 15:54:44 PST Subject: [R-G] John Clarke detained at border Message-ID: <200202262354.g1QNsjE17898@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From mstainsby at tao.ca Wed Feb 27 00:46:48 2002 From: mstainsby at tao.ca (Macdonald Stainsby) Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 23:46:48 -0800 Subject: [R-G] Colombia and FARC References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020225202405.00a5eec0@zeus.uwindsor.ca> Message-ID: <006801c1bf62$e9ce5bc0$76195218@vc.shawcable.net> This is a reply to the post from Bob. Mac ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Everton" In reply to Macdonald Stainsby and "Bob" about the FARC (Subject: Re: To Anthony: "Total War" From: Macdonald Stainsby Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 00:08:09 -0800) Macdonald wrote, 1) "The following was posted to Rad Green today, and seems timely for this thread. Any comments from Anthony or others on this write up? Normally, I would be far more critical, but the author is a good comrade I have seen in action for many years, and certainly is someone I have never had cause to consider a dupe of any sort. And then quoted 'Bob' as follows, " I have known of the FARC for many decades. But I would like to contribute what I have learned from comrades who are from the Pacific coast of Colombia... "The FARC when they have taken over local communities of Afro-Colombians have replaced (or attempted to replace) the local autonomous leadership (such as the Process of Black Communities - a member of the PGA) with their own rule. They have obliged local Afro-Colombian communities to grow coca leaves for the production of cocaine. Although the local leadership objected and stood up to the insurgent force, they were ultimately told that the FARC was in command and the people would grow what the FARC told them to grow. Within months seeds were provided and coca plants were being grown (3/4 of each field). Within a year the paramilitary appeared in the region and the FARC immediately abandoned the area - without a fight. The local people were left defenseless against the paramilitary who have murdered any opposition in the community - with impunity." I can not confirm, nor can I deny, this account from my own experience. However I have heard many similar stories from people I consider to be reliable, and not just from the Pacific Coast. The FARC publicly says it is involved in regulating and taxing the produciton and distribution of cocaine. 2. 'Bob' continued, "Do you want to hear of the stories of the offer of women troops members as obliged to provide sexual favours for those the FARC leadership consider important in recruiting?" I have never heard any such stories, except from the extreme right wing here in Colombia. 3. Bob continued, "Or the stories of children who died during the confrontations, or later from the explosives still in the communities?" Of course, these are the main news stories in colombia whenever they happen. However, from my observation of things here in Colombia, the FARC has only attacked what it designated to be military targets. The children you mentioned were killed when police, police stations, and military bases in urban neighborhoods were attacked. The FARC says the military and police deliberately build their stations and bases in crowded neighborhoods to use civilians as a shield. 4. And then, a little later, Bob wrote. "Why is this the case? Because 50 years of war (or 38 as FARC)leads people to assume behavior that meets the needs of military ends, which are unfortunately far too often divorced from the needs of the people when there is not a political leadership - responsible to the grassroots - that oversees that military command. Military logic comes to dominate over political concerns if there is no structure to ensure that political considerations dominate." Bob has more or less hit the nail on the head. For the FARC military concerns, especially procurement, dictate political concerns and strategy. This is always in my humble opinion the strong tendency in all guerrilla struggles. 5. And then Bob went on, "The FARC do not undertake military challenges if they do not believe they can win them. But while we should not underestimate the military potential of the FARC (with popular support in many urban centres and likely with the military hard-ware to turn these into armed combatants)..." Here Bob is, in my opinion, way off base. The FARC doesn't always, or even usually pick and chose its military challenges. This particular one was forced upon them by the Colombian government, with US imperialism standing behind giving them a hard shove. It also doesn't always, or usually, win battles. lately it has been losing them. Secondly, the FARC has (again in my humble opinion) close to zero popular support in the urban centers of Colombia. Far from underestimating the FARC's urban strength, we shouldn't overestimate it. (The one important city where its militias once were powerful and popular, Barancabermja (the oil city, Colombia's version of Bakersfield) is now pretty much under the control of the paramilitary - thanks in part to fratricdal battles betweent he FARC and ELN militias a few years ago.) El Tiempo, the local newspaper reflecting the views of the very big bourgeoisie of Colombia, says they FARC has less than 200 armed combatants in Bogot?. There is not a single neighborhood in this city where the FARC has real mass support, or leads a mass organization. The Communist Party however, does have a real base in many working class enighbors, and leads many of the most important unions. It is being targetted for repression, despite the fact that its links with the FARC were broken years ago. 6. And then Bob wrote, "... neither should we underestimate the consequences of the lack of political leadership that have driven the FARC into the camp of unwanted combatants for many of the impoverished rural peoples of Colombia. These very people should, if the FARC were the revolutionary force many seem to believe they are, be its first bastion of recruits and support. But instead many of them feel oppressed by the FARC. Not to the same degree as the paramilitary obviously ... " In my experience, and in the stories others have told me, this is the most common sentiment among immigrants to Bogot? from the countryside. All the best, Anthony From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 27 18:04:00 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 17:04:00 PST Subject: [R-G] In its unilateralist disregard, U.S. is the real 'rogue state' - Philadelphia Inquirer Message-ID: <200202280104.g1S140E13915@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 27 18:04:53 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 17:04:53 PST Subject: [R-G] New heights for a remarkable pundit (Thomas Friedman) - Norman Solomon Message-ID: <200202280104.g1S14rE14567@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 27 18:10:17 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 17:10:17 PST Subject: [R-G] Bush parades his hypocrisy round the world - Sunday Herald Message-ID: <200202280110.g1S1AHE19082@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 27 18:11:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 17:11:14 PST Subject: [R-G] US militarism a threat to other nations - New Straits Times (Malaysia) Message-ID: <200202280111.g1S1BEE20052@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Wed Feb 27 18:14:15 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 17:14:15 PST Subject: [R-G] Thinking The Unthinkable - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Message-ID: <200202280114.g1S1EGE22353@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Thu Feb 28 08:47:27 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 08:47:27 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Natives, Racism, and Deerfield Message-ID: <001101c1c06f$3b458840$52a90e3f@ibm22761429477> This end-of-February [2/28 and sometimes 2/29] is the anniversary of the 1704 raid by Abenakis and some Caughnawaga Mohawks and French on the British town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. If that raid hadn't occurred, I [and a great many others] probably wouldn't be gracing this essentially wonderful mudball called Earth. It's a revealing tale about racism [English] and the total absence of it [Native Americans.] Racism -- the quack and deadly effort to deny the humanity of the victim -- is a relatively new [ca. 1500s] phenomenon that began under the aegis of the newly Protestant English and Dutch. It was a clear effort to rationalize genocide against Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans and justify other awful things. The Catholic countries were certainly caught up in ages-old cultural ethnocentrism -- the doctrine of "cultural superiority," also quite false -- which has been used to rationalize all kinds of hideously self-serving goals and practices. But ethnocentrism did not [and doesn't] go the final and ultimately terrible and irreversible mile of racism and seek to deny the basic humanity of the victim. To a racist, the victim is seen as genetically sub-human; to an ethnocentrist, the victim, should he or she convert to the ethnocentrist's cultural position, then becomes essentially "OK." The Native/European situation in eastern Canada and the northeastern portion of what's now the United States was extremely complex from the outset. The Natives of the Abenaki [or Wabanaki] Confederacy were almost always aligned with the French -- against the encroaching and oft-urban English whose view of Natives was generally [not always] from a racist perspective even though they had some Indian allies at various points. [The Scots, with an entirely different socio-cultural background, could often be much better and, over time, frequently married legally into Indian Nations -- a very common French practice always.] By the latter 1600s and the beginning of the 1700s, England's racism was brutally obvious: Cotton Mather termed Natives "wild animals" and "children of Satan," cholera-infested blankets were deliberately given as ostensible gifts to Natives, formal English bounties were paid for the heads and scalps of Abenaki men and women and children. That sanguinary and repressive English racist legacy still shapes much of the United States and Canada to this moment. The Abenakis with some Caughnawaga Mohawks and the French -- accompanied by Jesuit priests -- swept down from the St. Francis Abenaki refugee mission setting [Odanak, Quebec] on Deerfield, killing many and burning much of the English town. About 100 English captives of all ages were taken and ultimately "distributed" among the various Catholic Indian mission communities where most got along well. Among them were two very small children, Samuel Gill and Rosalie James. These were taken to St. Francis and raised as Native [and as Jesuit Catholics.] In 1715, they formally married each other -- ultimately producing seven children who were biologically "white" but totally Native in the socio-cultural sense. One of those, Marie-Appoline, is my g/g/g/g/g grandmother. And another of these seven children was Joseph-Louis Gill, who became chief of the St. Francis Abenaki and served well in that capacity for 50 years. Obviously, the Natives weren't in the remotest sense racist -- nor have they ever been at anytime, anywhere. The "white captive" into full tribal membership and participation [usually to the point of not wanting to return to the Anglo world even when the opportunity presented itself] is a not-uncommon "frontier" account. And, of course, runaway African slaves frequently found very safe haven and full citizenship in many Native tribal nations. In 1759, the evil [and I don't use the word lightly] Major Robert Rogers attacked and burned St Francis, including its church, killing many women and children. Among the women killed was the Abenaki wife of Samuel Gill, the biologically "white" and 100% Abenaki Grand Chief. The Indians fought back effectively. Wounded while defending St. Francis was my g/g/g/g/g grandfather, Gabriel Annance, a young Mohawk from the not-distant Catholic mission town of Caughnawaga who had married Marie-Appoline. This was the beginning of the famous Mohawk-based but St. Francis Abenaki Annance family line -- one of our family's several major Native genealogical rivers. Almost all of the Annances, several of whom attended Dartmouth College in the latter 18th century and the earlier portion of the 19th century --and their descendants and their various connections --consistently married other Indians over the long pull. Rogers' raid is the basis for an essentially anti-Indian 1936 novel, Northwest Passage, by Kenneth Roberts. In 1940, it was made into a well-known movie [starring the usually good and socially conscious Spencer Tracy] which is also bigoted as hell. Tracy redeemed himself many times over in future roles: Bad Day at Black Rock, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Inherit the Wind -- and many more of which many of us, I'm sure, are quite fond. But I am NOT fond of Northwest Passage. The good and scholarly Jesuit, Father J.A. Maurault chronicled much of this far-ranging and long-enduring episodic drama in his classic [in French] Histoire des Abenakis. This is a large, substantial study which goes through to the mid-1800s and contains the Gill and Gill descendants genealogy in considerable detail. By that date, as Fr. Maurault calculated it, there were almost a thousand known descendants of the two white "captive" children. The number today, of course, would be vast. So here is a biologically "white" Grand Chief -- for fifty dramatic years -- of an Indian Nation. How many Anglo towns have ever had a Native mayor to this day? In Solidarity -- and Unity Hunter [Hunterbear] Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) From tomcondit at igc.org Thu Feb 28 13:55:14 2002 From: tomcondit at igc.org (Tom Condit) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 12:55:14 -0800 Subject: [R-G] FW: Israel in crisis Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.0.20020228125123.0328b460@pop.igc.org> [This from the In Defence of Marxism website, :] Report from Israel: "Argentina in the Middle East" By A. Kramer "Argentine is here!" - today that is the most popular slogan among Israelis workers, who are increasingly faced with the threat of unemployment. The Israeli economy is fast sinking into total collapse. Prices are going up, while the Israeli Shekel goes down. The only thing that is stable is high pay awards to the bosses and bureaucrats. At the end of December and the beginning of January thousands of people went to the streets to protest against the government's policy of cuts in social spending in Israel's 2002 budget. The struggle is continuing even today. For more then two months Israeli invalids are staging protests outside government buildings in Jerusalem. All Israeli society was shocked by their poverty and the terribly conditions of they lives. All, that is, except the finance minister and prime minister. Neither of them is ready take any steps to improve the conditions of those unfortunate people. In the south of Israel, in the small town of Kiriat-Gat several hundred workers of the "Bagir" textile factory have barricaded themselves inside the factory. In this way, they are expressing their protest about the closure of the factory. The "Bagir" administration had decided to transfer production to Egypt and Portugal, as result of high labour costs in Israel. Now the workers are occupying the factory and some of them want to declare "Bagir" the property of the workers. In this situation Sharon and his advisers want to divert the public's attention to the conflict with the Palestinians. This trick was accomplished by means of an old Sharon trick - a new provocation. He is continuing his policy of assassinating Palestinians activists, which in turn provokes new terrorist acts against Israelis. It's clear now - if it was not before - that Sharon has a clearly defined plan to finish off what little is left of Palestinian "autonomy". Israeli's minister Dani Nave was recently asked by a reporter - "But maybe after Arafat the situation in the Palestinian territories may turn into a war?" To which the minister replied - "Nothing can be worse than Arafat". The Israeli authorities do not plan simply to overthrow the Arafat administration by force of arms and declare the peace process terminated. No. The Sharon plan involves the total destruction of the Palestinian Authority's infrastructure. The Israeli military is systematically bombing targets like police stations, Television and Radio stations, and all administrative buildings. Arafat himself is now blockaded inside his office in Ramalla by Israeli's tanks. These actions go hand in hand with a tremendous propaganda assault from the Israeli side. Israel's newspapers are constantly full be information to the effect that Arafat is ready to resign, that Arafat is preparing to run away, and also that Arafat is preparing to die as "Shachid" (martyr): The massage for Arafat is clear - either you leave by yourself or we will help you on your way to Paradise! But Arafat does not seem very interested in going to Paradise. He does not want to lose power - or to loosen his grip on the Palestinian Autonomy. He continues to play his old game. He sends massages to the Europeans asking them save him from the Israelis. He calls on the Palestinian people to defend "Autonomy", and he keeps People's Front activists in prison to satisfy Israel: He is even making new arrests - while he himself is little more than a prisoner of the Israelis. In one week he arrested activists of the People's Liberation Front, suspected of killing the Israeli tourist minister Rachavam Zeezi - a well-known fascist. It is clear that Sharon's plans could never have been realised without American support. Up till now the White House has not criticised any action by the Israeli army. Former Israel Prime Minister Barak, after meting with American officials, said: "Arafat looks like a terrorist, so he is a terrorist". Perhaps Barak got the line directly from "big brother" on how to deal with "terrorists". But all the plans of the Israelis and Americans leave out one little thing - the Palestinians people themselves. Today hundreds of ordinary Palestinians have been mobilised to fight against the Israeli invaders. All the Palestinian military groups have united to resist the Israeli army. They call upon Arafat give weapons to the people and release the prisoners - or get out. It looks as if the new Palestinian struggle will not be just against Israelis but also against the local American and capitalist puppet, Arafat. The situation in the Palestinian territories is now a nightmare. In the last two weeks the Israeli Army in the occupied territories was the target of serious ambushes on several occasions. First it was attacked at the check point near Ramala, where the Palestinians killed several Israeli soldiers, and others were disarmed. Four days later the Israeli's best tank - the Merkava Mc III - was bombed in the Gaza Strip. Three crew members were killed in this attack. In the last attack two Palestinian partisans killed six Is*aeli soldiers at another check point near Ramala. It was not just a question of the human losses, but also a real humiliation for Israel. In Israeli right-wing mythology it is said that one Is*aeli can easy kill ten Arabs. But now this does not look so convincing. After this attack Sharon sad that he not interested in war! The new developments on the battlefield have given a push to the Israeli pacifist, movement which has been stagnating for the last year. On the 9th of February about 10,000 men and women took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest against the occupation. Many demonstrates demanded that Sharon be sent to the Hague to stand trial as a war criminal. There were many red flags too. It is interesting that some moderate pacifist, like the "Shalom Achshav" movement, ignored this action, characterising it as too "radical". In this atmosphere, a group of reserve solders and officers sent letter to prime-minister Sharon in which they expressed their refusal to serve in the occupied territories. In this letter they pointed out that there are no connection between the occupation of Palestine and Israel's security problem, and that moreover this occupation is leading to the de-humanisation of Israeli army and society. To date more then 250 people have adhered to this latter. It is a striking fact that many of these officers are not pacifist and not even left. They said in the letter that for many years they loyally served the state. But as military people they understand that the Israeli forces in the occupied territories find themselves in the same situation as they found in South Lebanon in the 1980-90s. That is to say, they are caught up in a prolonged guerrilla war which they cannot ultimately win. The coming together of the economic, political and military crisis in Israel is producing a very unstable position. The fact that the crisis is now being expressed in the armed forces even at the highest level must provoke deep alarm in the ruling class and the Sharon administration. The beginning of mass demonstrations against the war is a sign that the tide is at last beginning to turn. Tel Aviv, February 26, 2002 See also: Israel - Opposition grows by Fred Weston. (February 27, 2002) War and Economic Crisis in Israel by A. Kramer. (November 15, 2001) After Sharon's Victory New Convulsions in the Middle East by Ted Grant and Alan Woods. (February 9, 2001) Tom Condit tomcondit at igc.org The Peace & Freedom Party needs to raise its registration to 86,212 to get back on the California ballot. http://www.peaceandfreedom.org From hunterbadbear at earthlink.net Thu Feb 28 15:40:13 2002 From: hunterbadbear at earthlink.net (Hunter Gray) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:40:13 -0700 Subject: [R-G] Addendum: Natives and Deerfield -- and the Moosehead Indian World Message-ID: <002701c1c0a8$ed721540$52a90e3f@ibm22761429477> I've met a great many people of all ethnic backgrounds on these various Left lists -- and most are just fine. A good number are genuinely interested in Native concerns and some are quite knowledgeable on those matters. But some are indifferent, others hostile. That's their business. It's a big country -- even if it isn't exactly free. For those who are interested: Earlier today, I made a fairly short post indicating that this is the anniversary of the famous 1704 Abenaki [and Caughnawaga Mohawk and French] raid on the British town of Deerfield, Massachusetts; that two very small white children -- Samuel Gill and Rosalie James -- were among the captives taken back to Indian mission towns in Canada and raised there; and that these two children, very much Indianized, married one another in 1715 and had seven biologically "white" but totally Abenaki offspring -- one of whom, Joseph Louis-Gill, became the Grand Chief of the St Francis Abenaki, serving in that capacity for half a century, and losing his Abenaki wife to English bullets during the vicious 1759 raid on St. Francis by Rogers' Rangers. The English [and subsequently most Anglo Americans for many epochs to come] were always very racist. The Natives obviously were not racist in that situation or any other --anywhere at any time. The fact that Joseph Louis-Gill was technically "white" in a biological sense made absolutely no difference -- if it even occurred to any other St. Francis Indian. Joseph-Louis Gill was Abenaki through and through. And I mentioned that another of the seven biologically "white" but thoroughly Abenaki Gill offspring was Marie Appoline who married a Mohawk, Gabriel Annance [ himself wounded while defending St Francis against Rogers' Rangers] and that these were my g/g/g/g/g/grandparents and the start of the famous Abenaki Annance family line -- which thereafter consistently married other Indians over the many generations to come. In that post, I mentioned Father J.A. Maurault's substantial and comprehensive account of this entire episodic high drama -- which was published in the mid-19th century and which, among other dimensions, contains a great deal of the Gill genealogy and that of their many, many descendants to the mid-19th century. Since posting, I've had four off-list communications seeking specifics on the Maurault work -- and, in two of the cases, asking for other book suggestions dealing with the St. Francis Abenaki. Father Joseph A. Maurault's work is Histoire des Abenakis depuis 1605 jusqui' ? nos jours . It was published in 1866 and contains 639 pages. Those copies that survived over the generations definitely showed their age and many of us welcomed the nicely done reprint -- limited and expensive as its edition was -- in 1969. This appeared via S.R. Publishers Limited, Yorkshire, England; Johnson Reprint Corporation, New York City; and Mouton & Co., The Hague, Netherlands. It is, of course, in French. An excellent introduction to the Natives of the Northeastern United States and adjoining sections of Canada is Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 15, Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, Washington, D.C: Smithsonian Institution, 1978. This 924 page volume is easily found in any good academic library. Professor Gordon M. Day, who has a substantial section in the foregoing Smithsonian volume, "Western Abenaki," also wrote a very fine, detailed monograph, The Identity of the St. Francis Indians, Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian National Museum, 1981. The many works on eastern Indians -- especially those in the Northeast -- by Frank G. Speck, are always worth consulting extensively. Speck was the noted and extremely honorable anthropologist, based for much of his career at the University of Pennsylvania -- but always a field man who was much trusted by the Natives. He could also write with great lucidity. Joseph Bruchac, a contemporary Abenaki writer, has produced a number of good works --including The Wind Eagle and Other Abenaki Stories as Told by Joseph Bruchac [illustrated by Kahionhes], Greenfield Center, New York: Bowman Books, 1985. And that's merely a scratch -- some representative basics. If more suggestions are needed, or if there are any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact me off-list. A final note at this point: As the 19th century wore on, with Northeastern Native life becoming more and more circumscribed on and around the relatively small reservations and reserves in the United States and Canada, many of the Indians of the old Wabanaki Confederacy -- Abenakis of St. Francis and environs, Maliseets and Micmacs of Southeastern Canada, and Penobscots of Maine, as well as some Mohawks from Northern New York and Southern Quebec, wound up by the mid-19th century in the rugged, very wild and generally unsettled Moosehead Lake section of Northern Maine and adjoining points north. There, for several decades and at least two basic generations, they lived -- often marrying across tribal lines. And that was, for a period all too short, a fairly close and fascinating approximation of the old, wild free life: hunters and trappers. And then, gradually, as the Anglos pushed in and towns like Greenville grew rapidly, the Native men worked as woodsmen and river men and guides and the women as domestics in the great resort hotels that sprang up on the edges of Moosehead Lake. A major and very early figure in this setting was Lewis [Louis] Annance, former Dartmouth attendee and close friend of the American historian, Francis Parkman. Lewis Annance, my g/g/g/g uncle, mostly raised my great grandmother, Louise, and, until his death in 1875, raised my grandmother, Mary [Mamie.] >From him, my grandmother received a wonderful, very heavy wolf robe -- made from three timber wolves that he killed about the time she was born [1865.] It went to my father and then to me and we have that huge robe, right here, to this very day, at our Idaho home. Unlike most of the Wabanaki, and many of the Mohawks, Lewis and his two brothers -- great grandchildren of the two white captive children from Deerfield -- left the Catholic Church and became Anglicans. Then Lewis went one step further and became a Congregationalist -- and, finally, a Mason. Like all of that old breed in the Moosehead country, he was communalistic -- and also a free person. He knew Latin [from Dartmouth] and read widely -- always much interested, as his Moosehead search indicated, in Utopia. I know that he, along with a great many on all sides of my family, would understand why I became a left socialist at a very early age -- and, as far as that goes, why I live in Idaho. Yours, Hunter Gray [Hunterbear] Hunter Gray [ Hunterbear ] www.hunterbear.org ( social justice ) From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 28 16:45:14 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:45:14 PST Subject: [R-G] *You* can help an Enron executive!! Message-ID: <200202282345.g1SNjEE00823@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 28 16:46:52 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:46:52 PST Subject: [R-G] Corporations overstated profit: study - FP Message-ID: <200202282346.g1SNkrE02647@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 28 16:48:10 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:48:10 PST Subject: [R-G] U.S.: Incarceration Rates Reveal Striking Racial Disparities - Human Rights Watch Message-ID: <200202282348.g1SNmAE03850@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 28 16:50:38 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:50:38 PST Subject: [R-G] Israel launches assault on refugees - AP Message-ID: <200202282350.g1SNocE06305@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From shniad at sfu.ca Thu Feb 28 16:53:46 2002 From: shniad at sfu.ca (shniad at sfu.ca) Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 15:53:46 PST Subject: [R-G] Anthrax Murders' Mr. X-A Former U.S. Bioweapons Researcher? Message-ID: <200202282353.g1SNrkE09798@rm-rstar.sfu.ca> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From caissa at mobile.rogers.com Thu Feb 28 23:09:05 2002 From: caissa at mobile.rogers.com (caissa) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 02:09:05 -0400 Subject: [R-G] New heights for a remarkable pundit (Thomas Friedman) - NormanSolomon Message-ID: <200203010609.g2169ES10454@BlackBerry.NET> I know that Edward Said repeatedly trashes Friedman in his published collection of interviews, "Power, Politics and Culture." It's not difficult to see why! jon From LAMZ at sympatico.ca Thu Feb 28 23:52:33 2002 From: LAMZ at sympatico.ca (Lysander Zimmerman) Date: Fri, 1 Mar 2002 01:52:33 -0500 Subject: [R-G] The W Coup: Executive Order 12656 Message-ID: <001d01c1c0ed$aa6d8190$33378d18@Indy1> The W Coup: Executive Order 12656 (english) by jonathan 9:19pm Thu Feb 28 '02 [Excerpt]: Last Oct. 8, the day after bombing began in Afghanistan, Bush created the Office of Homeland Security with Executive Order 13228. Among the responsibilities he gave its first director, former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge, was to "review plans and preparations for ensuring the continuity of the Federal Government in the event of a terrorist attack that threatens the safety and security of the United States Government or its leadership." '' Full Article: http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=142448&group=webcast